Everything Goes Martial Arts
by FrictionX42
Summary: The Amazons are ready to try some new tricks, and Ranma finds a flyer encouraging him to study Everything Goes Martial Arts. Noting the similarity in names, he decides that he should go investigate.
1. When things fall apart,

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHTED BY RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND USED WITHOUT PERMISSION. THIS STORY IN NO WAY REPRESENTS THE CREATOR'S IDEAS FOR THE STORYLINE OR ANYONE ELSE'S IDEAS(besides mine, obviously) FOR THAT MATTER. I AM NOT MAKING ANY MONEY FROM THIS AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU. IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU WANT TO GIVE MONEY TO SOMEONE, GO BUY SOME RANMA VIDEOS. IT'LL DO YA GOOD.

The following events begin shortly after the wedding fiasco…(I wish to point out here that I have not actually seen the wedding fiasco, only heard a lot about it, so if some of my information is wrong, blame other fanfic writers, as they were my information source.)

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 1: When things fall apart

A Ranma ½ Fanfic By Isaac Nagel

"Grandchild, come here. We must talk," Cologne sat atop her cushion, smoking a pipe and allowing the smoke to drift through the room.

"Talk about how Shampoo get Ranma, yes? Great-grandmother make Ranma marry Shampoo now, make Shampoo so happy!"

Shampoo bounded in the room, her every move a graceful motion so fluid as to make water jealous. Her beauty masking the incredible strength within- beauty and strength that, although abundant, had still failed in capturing the prize she sought: Ranma Saotome. She happily continued, "Great-grandmother, Ranma no marry Akane yet, so Shampoo still can win."

"Grandchild, your spirit is strong, but we have been unable to convince Son-in-law to take the correct action. I believe we should go back to China to further train, and return when we are ready to take him from that girl, Akane Tendou. " Cologne looked very distraught.

"What if Akane marry Ranma while Shampoo in China?" Shampoo asked, worried.

"That, Shampoo, is a chance we must take. Let us return to China, to consult the elders, and make plans to take Son-in-law once and for all!"

All the while, a pair of small duck eyes watched this conversation with interest. _If I could only get rid of the evil Saotome while Shampoo was away_… Mousse smiled as he began to plot. A plot that would force him to use resources he did not like to draw upon but, if successfully completed, would win him the thing he most desired: Shampoo. As the plan began to form in his mind, he grinned and almost gave away his position by chuckling.

He dared not let the Old Ghoul discover where he was. He had spent countless hours making secret passages throughout the restaurant that only he knew of. It wasn't to spy on his beloved Shampoo. Although the idea of a peephole into her room did appeal to him greatly, he just couldn't bring himself to make one.

Mousse didn't trust Cologne. She was as sneaky as they came, second only to the perverted old man, Happousai. She would stop at nothing to get what she was after, and would not think twice to do it by force. If she was going back to china to train, that meant she was ready to start trying some **really **dangerous techniques. And she had glint in her eye that was only there when she had a new plan.

As Cologne and Shampoo each went to their respective rooms, so did Mousse. He had some important calls to make. The amazons all began to prepare for what lay ahead, each with their own idea of what would occur during the next few weeks.

Several days later…

"I…I… I l-love you, Akane." The words came easier that time. Thankfully, his pillow remained silent. Ranma sat in his room, practicing that which he knew he would have to say to Akane at soon.

He had realized that he loved her quite some time ago, but had been unable to tell her yet. According to everyone else, he had almost told her while she was passed out during the fight with Saffron, and Akane had taken that as a reason to get married! Best not to even think about that now, though. His head still hurt from repeated applications of Akane's hyperspace hammer. _That's a technique I'd like to learn,_mused Ranma. _But that stupid tomboy probably doesn't even know how she does it and wouldn't teach me even if she did, with how angry she is right now._

Why **did**she have to get so angry all the time? She never gave him any chance to explain anything. Akane hadn't even spoken to him for the last week, blaming him, as usual, for the entire fiasco on **her** wedding day. "It's not like it was just her wedding day, I was willing to go through with it, too." _Uncute tomboy! Why does everything always have to be blamed on me? If only there were something I could do to - to… _

He looked again at his pillow. "I l-l-love y-you." It had no reaction. _Jeez, what am I doin'? I'm actin' like Ryouga or somethin'._Then Ranma winced, painfully remembering the look on Ryouga's face as he had realized that Ranma and Akane were getting married for real. _Aw, man, that idiot is probably halfway to America or Paris or something by now, trying to find Akari. I hope he's okay. It __**is**__ a lot quieter without him around, though._

"I l-love you Akane." Every time he tried it, it got easier, but he realized that he could say it to his pillow forever, but he had to say it to her face, eventually. If only he were a whole guy again, this would be so much easier; he could **be** a man about this, a whole man, without the fear of being rejected as a pervert and a freak. If he didn't have this cursed body, he would have nothing to worry about. He could just go up and - *knock, knock* _oh no, I'm at her door! How'd I get here?!!!! What am I doin'? I can't do this yet!_ The door began to open. _I'm sorry, Akane._

"Yes, who's th- huh? ...There's no one there… oh well." Akane shut the door and sighed. She had been hoping it was Ranma, there to… to, well, she didn't know what she wanted from him. Her head spun every time she thought about him, trying to figure out exactly how he felt about her. Sometimes she was certain that he didn't even **like **her. Then, sometimes, rarely ever in fact, he seemed to care about her more than anyone had in her entire life. He protected her, even though she protested, and she had come to like the feeling that she could depend on him for that if nothing else. _He was even there for the wedding,_ she thought. _What does that mean? Even he wouldn't play one of his little games that far._

She had come to one possible conclusion: that he, perhaps, loved her back. _Why else __**would**__ he have been there for the wedding? That awful wedding. He looked so handsome, wearing his tuxedo that day. He even looked as if he __**wanted**__ to be there, deep down, where he thought no one could see. Of course, the entire disaster thing __**was**__ his fault. _Again, proof that he didn't care about her. Akane also had a lot of evidence that said he **did **care about her.

_But, if he does care about me, why do we always fight? _The answer eluded her.

"Baka no Ranma!" Akane shouted at her pillow. Hers also did not reply. (pillows are pretty good at that.) Akane grimaced, her mind replaying the events of her wedding day and everything that had happened since.

She wished she had someone to talk to. Kasumi was busy in the kitchen, and Nabiki had made enough money from her efforts during the last week and a half to take a vacation down South, and was there with some friends to avoid all the yelling and crying that had been so prevalent at the Tendou house over the last few days. Akane had been left alone to sort out her thoughts and try to figure out where she would go from there. Her father was despondent, feeling that he had failed to get his daughter married and had shut himself in his room and cried for nearly 24 hours. Genma was useless, always sleeping and eating, as usual.

Tears welled up in her eyes again as she pondered what was to happen. _Does he love me? Does he even care for me? I wish I only knew for sure, and then everything would be all right. I could even wait until he was ready._

"Baka no Ranma!" was all Ranma could hear from outside her room from where he had hidden on the ceiling. _How uncute of her. Here I was, ready to tell her- ah, forget it, she wouldn't believe me if I told her anyway._ His stomach growled. _Well, no time to worry about that now, I'm gonna see if there's anything in the pantry… _Ranma jumped down from the ceiling and made his way to the kitchen to get something to eat. Unfortunately, he didn't see the pair of squinty little eyes peering out at him from the doorway across the hall…

As Ranma reached the kitchen he loudly asked, "Hey Kasumi, is there anything to eat around here? I'm star-" His sentence was abruptly cut off by a scream from upstairs. "Oh no, what's happened to Akane?" Before Kasumi could answer, Ranma moved almost faster than the eye could see and was at Akane's door before her shriek had even ceased.

The door flew open just as Ranma reached it- with his face. "OWW! What the hell?" Ranma swore, as he saw the old letch leaping out of Akane's room.

"What a haul, what a haul!" The old pervert was carrying his sack of filched, frilly treasures, as usual, and also as usual he had no trouble giving Ranma a good walloping as he went past. Happousai had been working overtime since the wedding, and had barely returned home at all in his zeal to get more and more silky undergarments. He dropped a low quality piece of merchandise on Ranma's head to help him feel better, sure that his gift would be appreciated even by such an uncouth boor, but unwilling to let a truly magnificent piece go to such an undeserving wretch. "Hi-ho, gotta go" Happousai shouted as he saw Akane's Hyperspace Mallet come out with a speed and vengeance he had seen only few times before.

Ranma looked up just in time to see Akane advancing on him, battle aura glimmering brightly. "Ranma, you better tell me what you're doing with that underwear this instant or I'll get angry!"

"Just hold on - let me explai-" with that, he had exceeded Akane's typical level of patience, and she let the hammer fall on his head with such force that for a moment, Ranma's world went very abruptly dark. The last word he heard as he fell into the inky blackness was Akane's shocked gasp, "Ranma!"

Ukyou was sobbing on her bed. The restaurant hadn't opened since the day of the wedding, and she was in no condition to try to open it now. She didn't feel like cooking, she didn't feel like talking, she didn't feel like doing anything except crying as hard as she could until she at last fell asleep. At least when she was asleep, in her dreams she could see **him** as he was meant to be: hers.

_Oh, Ranma, what have I done?_She pondered as she suffered because of what she had done at the wedding. She had gone so far as to attack innocent people in her rage over the ceremony. She had made Ran-Chan angry, she was sure of that. Ukyou hadn't seen Ranma since that day. _Not surprising, since he mostly comes around just to get free okonomiyaki… But still, if that's the only I could ever get close to him, that makes it okay, right? **Right**?_

She burst into tears anew at the thought of never cooking him a meal as his wife, something she had looked forward to for almost her entire life since coming to Nerima. True, there was a while when she just wanted to kill him and his father, but that had passed quickly as she realized just how much she cared for Ranma, and his father had after all, become one of her most frequent customers. Not the highest paying of course, because the heartless bastard always snuck away when she wasn't looking, but she figured she'd get it all back when she married Ranma. When the two of them would cook okonomiyaki together, open their own business… _Oh, I don't even want to think about business right now._She winced as she thought of how many customers she'd probably lost because of her attack on Ranma and Akane's wedding.

_I wonder how he's doing right now…_ she idly mused. _He's probably incredibly happy with-with Akane._The tears streamed down her face as the full realization that Ran-Chan and Akane would get married, no matter what, and that anything she did to try to change that would only hurt Ranma.

_I can't hurt him, even after all of this; I can't bring myself to hurt him, to hate him, to do anything but love him! Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't **I**have been the one that Ranma was in love with? **I'm** the cute fiancé- remember? You called me that, on the day that I tried to kill you for running away with my family's cart, for causing my father to kill himself looking for that **Jackass**Genma Saotome, for ruining my life as a woman. In that one sentence, you had turned all my hatred into pure love, and then you had to go and fall in love with another girl! Oh Ranma, why did you have to say that to me? Why did I have to go and fall in love with you, anyway?_

Ukyou continued crying long into the day and into the night, until merciful sleep claimed her, carrying away her sorrows until she awoke again.

Ranma was walking through a forest, one of the most beautiful forests he'd ever seen, He was dressed in his training gi and appeared to be on a training trip. _All right,_ he thought to himself. _Finally a chance to get some training done alone!_It didn't occur to him to consider it odd that he had no recollection of how he'd gotten there. Suddenly he realized he wasn't alone, there was a girl walking next to him! It was Akane, and she was smiling. He realized it had been quite some time since he had seen Akane smile, and how beautiful she looked when she did. He just hoped she wasn't planning to cook him dinner after a hard day of training.

Then the thought occurred to him that they were alone. No meddling parents to get in the way, no Nabiki taping their conversations or taking pictures to sell to interested buyers at school, no Ryouga trying to get in his way and butt in where he wasn't wanted, but completely alone, **together**.

"Ranma?" She was looking at him in a way he didn't recognize, but found that he really liked. "I love you." His heart almost burst with the happiness that he felt, a fiery joy that coursed through his body and soul.

He was even more surprised with his reply: "I love you, too, Akane." She beamed at him, and his feeling of joy intensified.

"Ranma, tonight's going to be fun, isn't it? Just the two of us, alone in the middle of the woods… one tent, one sleeping bag… finally just us for once?" Ranma remembered when the two of them had snuck out that afternoon, to be together that night, in the way that they had wanted to be for so long.

His pulse began to race, his nose threatened to burst, and his cheeks got hot as he remembered what they planned to do that night after setting up the tent. He was very nervous. He wasn't sure about being able to go through with this, but they **were **engaged now, and not because of some silly agreement between their parents.

His hand grasped hers, and she gave it a squeeze. It was nice being able to finally be the way he wanted with her. She looked up at him, eyes sparkling, lips slightly parted, love written all over her face, all for him.

"Ranma," She breathed. "There's something I want to give to you, come closer." Unable to resist, he bent his head towards hers, and as their lips drew closer together, he could smell her perfume, hear her breath as she slowly inhaled, could feel her body pressed up against his, could almost taste the sweet flavor of her lips. Just as they were about to draw together in their passionate embrace, she hit him on the head with a hammer.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" He demanded. She smiled sweetly and hit him again. "Akane, what are you doing?" He tried to move, to dodge, but his body just wasn't working the way it should! "Akane! Why are you- ow! What'd I-ow! Please let me- ow!" He begged, he pleaded, but she just kept slamming away, with that look of absolute bliss on her face. That look, that even through his pain, Ranma could see as nothing but beautiful…*Wham! Wham! Wham! * Akane kept smiling and hitting him, unrelenting in her blissful barrage of loving hammer blows.

"Stop hitting me!" Ranma yelled as he bolted upright. He was not in a forest, he was in his room, and Kasumi was watching over him, with a concerned look on her face. Akane was there too, slapping him over and over.

"Well, Baka, it looks like you finally decided to wake up after all. Now maybe you can explain THESE! She held up the panties that Happousai had so graciously given him, their silky softness gently blowing with the breeze.

"What the- The Freak had the panties!" Ranma stuttered.

"Sure, like I'm supposed to believe that, Ranma. **You**had the panties, not Happousai. You two perverts were probably working together again, like you always do. What do you think, that I'm stupid or something?"

Ranma mustered up his courage, knowing that if he didn't tell her soon, he never would (probably because Akane would kill him), so he needed to tell her now. "Akane, There's something I've got to tell you."

He sat up and tried to grasp her hand, but his sudden movement made him dizzy again. "Akane, I-" and as he blacked out once more, he wished suddenly that he hadn't even started to say anything. Perhaps this was one thing that was best left unsaid.

Author's Notes: When I began writing this, it was my first fanfic. I now have several one-shots (posted), and am in the middle of no less than three long-term fanfiction stories (two of which are posted), as well as two novel ideas (one of which I hope to get published someday) That being said, this is still the longest story that I have on my plate at the moment. As of this posting, I have 7 chapters written, and I'm only about 1/6th of the way through my plans. And even claiming that much may be generous. I will try to work on making the chapters longer, but I didn't want to change what I already had too much, instead choosing to focus on new chapters and driving the story further. Thank you to those who convinced me to go ahead and post my unfinished stories, as it will hopefully drive me to write more often rather than waiting and posting it all when I'm done with the whole thing.


	2. One finds solutions

THE CHARACTERS USED ARE COPYRIGHTED BY THEIR CREATOR, RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND ARE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION AND IN NO WAY REFLECT EITHER THE ORIGINATOR'S THOUGHTS OR IDEAS. IN FACT, SHE WOULD PROBABLY BE UPSET WITH ME IF SHE FOUND OUT WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS. But you, dear reader… please- read on.

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 2: One finds solutions

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

It was the morning Shampoo and Cologne were to leave. The sun shone brightly on the Nerima district, providing what Mousse took to be a good sign for his plans. Cologne and Shampoo walked to the cab that had come to take them to the Airport so they could return to China. Mousse waved goodbye to Shampoo and Cologne, telling them again that of course he would look after the restaurant, and that they had nothing to worry about. He was very careful not to let slip the fact that he was planning to get rid of the lecherous Saotome once and for all. It was tempting for him to gloat, but it was best if he kept his mouth shut. It seemed the old ghoul had almost caught on at one point, but then she just kept on packing. She seemed tired, as if she had been up the entire night before, working on something. It was lucky he had spent so much of his time convincing others he was nothing to be worried about. He was glad that he had made the old woman think of him as a moron. It meant that she would always underestimate him. He had a sneaking suspicion that Shampoo used the same tactics against people, but he wasn't entirely sure. _Oh Shampoo, soon the two of us will be together, and then you'll see what true love really is. _He would miss Shampoo, but he had his plan ready and would soon set it into motion. He wouldn't even let her stand in the way. He could focus his thoughts better without her around anyways. Everything rested on his plan…

Ranma woke up groggily the next morning, having had more nightmares the night before about his future with Akane. Awful nightmares. His head still pounded. He was still hungry. His fantasy-nightmares had given him one thought, however. _Maybe getting out to do a little training in the wilderness would be a good idea. I need to work on my moves, and with everything that's been going on the last few days; I could use a little trip. Hmm… how to ditch pops, though?_

He lurched to his feet and groggily made his way to the bathroom. His head pounded with every step. His vision blurred. _Why'd she hit me so hard anyways?_ He wondered as he stripped. He opened the door to the bath and walked in… only to see a very nude, very angry Akane just getting out of the bath and standing right in front of him! Before he could explain, she exploded on him, as usual. "Ranma, you PERVERT! WHEN GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU WON'T LIVE TO REGRET IT!"

Ranma barely sidestepped one of her punches, still slow from the head blow the night before, but was quick as ever on his feet in getting out of the room and back to his room before she got really angry and killed him or something. _She's so beautiful when she smiles; _He thought to himself_, I just wish she'd do it more often. Maybe if she'd give me a chance to explain things before trying to clobber me! Why do I have to feel that way for that stupid tomboy? _Ranma knew better than to argue with his feelings, however. He had already tried and failed. _It figures the only fight I would lose so badly would be against my own feelings. _A training trip was definitely starting to look like a really good idea. _It'll give me some time to think,_ Ranma thought to himself, _And right now, I could use as much of that as I can get!_

Breakfast that morning was relatively uneventful, mostly due to the fact that Ranma's head still throbbed from Akane's not-so-tender ministrations the day before - that and the fact that she glared at him throughout the whole meal. _At least she doesn't seem to remember what I almost said to her last night before I passed out again. Why does she have to be so violent? Who can live like that?_ _Do I **want** to live like that?_

As he pondered these things, his father, noting the far-off look in Ranma's eyes, was busy helping himself to Ranma's breakfast. Ranma was too busy thinking to notice. Akane had also noticed, however, and was beginning to get more than a little worried.

_What's going on? Why is Ranma like this? He was acting really strangely last night, but he seemed back to his own pervert self this morning… Maybe he was going to finally tell me- no, that can't be it. He's probably thinking about Shampoo or Ukyo or how he's going to steal more underwear with Happousai or trying to see me naked or something!_ Just thinking about the night before and the events that had happened this morning was making her angry. She let out a sigh. _Will he ever stop being such a pervert? Why does he ridicule me so much? _

Ranma's words, ghostlike, floated through her memory. One of the first things he had ever said to her: "_And I'm better built, to boot!" _The words continued to haunt her to this day. She hated to admit it, but she had secretly enjoyed all the attention she had received as being the prettiest girl at Furinken High School. Then **he** had shown up and somehow everything became all about Ranma. Her rage built up inside her as she thought about how peaceful her life had been before Ranma, and then subsided as she realized how empty it had also been. She both hated him and loved him for it. As she thought about it, she became more and more confused. She realized she needed to work off some steam, and decided to go to the dojo after breakfast.

"Ranma, do you want to go to the dojo and practice after - " She looked up just in time to see Genma happily finishing Ranma's breakfast, Kasumi giving him a second portion, and Ranma just getting up and walking away, silently and with a **very** depressed look on his face. _What the…what's wrong with him? I didn't hit him that hard. Is he thinking of some new girl he got engaged to over the weekend? He must be! He's always doing this! Why can't he just be honest with himself and choose one and be done with it instead of jerking me-__**us-**__ around like this?_ Then she felt guilty, realizing that Ranma wasn't the only one who wasn't being open with his feelings. _Maybe I should just-but what if he- there's no way I could_… her thoughts were going a million miles an hour, but she realized at last that maybe if he wasn't going to come to her with his feelings then maybe she would have to do so. _How could I- where would I even start? I'm pretty sure he cares for me, but what if he just uses it to make fun of me or something? _The thought of admitting her true feelings to Ranma terrified her to the very depths of her soul. She quickly finished her breakfast and left the table, looking a little more worried than usual.

Nabiki had returned from her vacation that morning and had missed none of this. She made a mental note to pick up extra film that afternoon: a lot seemed to have happened since she left, and things were going to get even more interesting, she was sure.

Ranma spent the entire day moping around, pondering things. He could be seen meandering about the dojo and the yard, thinking and sighing to himself. The others all wondered what he was doing, but he ceased speaking to anyone. He even kept from fighting with Akane, which came as a surprised to everyone. He avoided everyone, and even Kasumi was unable to pry him out of his mood by her cooking. Everyone was worried, especially Akane. Ranma continued to ignore everyone, seemingly in a world of his own.

--------------------A few days later--------------------

Ukyo awakened curled into a tight ball as she had found herself upon awaking each day since the wedding a week ago. She still hadn't found the courage or the energy to open up the restaurant for business. She had lost all concept of time as she tried to escape her grief. It could be morning or early evening, for all she knew. She had already broken all of the clocks she owned, as well as a good portion of the rest of her furniture, in her anger-stricken madness.

There had been knocks on the door several times, but she had not answered any of them. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She didn't want to bear the embarrassment of having to face what she had done. As she looked down at herself, she saw that she was a wreck. She had barely eaten anything in the last week, unable to think of herself as worthy of even enjoying the tiniest morsel. She hadn't bathed or kept up her appearance at all. She looked awful. _Cute fiancée, my ass_. She thought. _Look at me now. I certainly don't look cute, I look half-dead._

She realized she was in really bad shape, but she didn't know what to do. _Maybe I should at least apologize to him. Maybe he's not as angry with me as I think… Stupid Jackass! Of course he's angry with you! You've been in his way this whole time, keeping him from being able to marry Akane when he wanted to and now he hates you! How can he not hate me? _"No, he doesn't hate me" she whispered, barely able to speak, her throat contracted and her voice was mostly gone.

"I need to go and… apologize." Her throat tightened and her eyes threatened to let loose another barrage of tears as she realized that she had almost said 'say goodbye.' She realized then that she had done what she never thought she would do: give up. She had been chasing Ranma and Genma for years, first for revenge, later for love. Now all of that was over. She would resign herself to life as 'Ranma's friend.' The title had a bitter feel to it, but it was easier to bear than 'Ranma's cute-but-unwanted fiancee.'

_Well, I'd better go and tell him that I won't get in his way any longer…_She swung herself up out of bed and steadied herself on the bedside table she had there. "Whoa girl. Don't fall over now. I guess I was in worse shape than I thought. She bathed and dressed very slowly because of her dizziness, but when she finished, she felt a little better. Her clothes were a little loose on her. It was the first time she had been out of bed for two days, and she found that she had lost some weight. "I guess that's what happens when you don't eat anything for a few days," She said "maybe I should make a little something before I go, so I can eat, and maybe a little extra, so I don't show up empty handed. _Unlike he and his father always did when they came to my dad's cart all those years ago. _The memories plagued her. _They took my honor, and now they have reduced me to __**this,**__ a pitiful excuse for a woman._

It was too much to bear. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks once more, but she stopped them this time, knowing that if she succumbed to her sorrow and cried on her bed, she probably would not get up again. Suddenly she heard a sound from outside her room. There was someone in her house.

Ukyo readied her oversized spatula, fear enveloping her as she realized she was too weak to fight effectively. There was a voice from the hallway just beyond her door. "And her room should be right here." As the door opened, Ukyo let fly with her spatula, hoping that she would at least injure the trespasser.

It hit Ryoga squarely on the head, and nearly drove him to the floor. "OW!" he yelled as he took the blow. "That's not Akane. When she hits me, it feels different. Where's Akane? Ukyo!? What are you doing in Akane's room?" Ukyo dropped her spatula, unable to hold it up any longer. "Ryoga, you idiot, why are you at **my restaurant** if you're looking for Akane?" "Your restaurant? I-well, you see- I must've… lost my way?" Ryoga looked sheepish. Ukyo found herself smiling at the poor boy's plight, in spite of herself.

"Well, Ryoga, you're in luck. I was just heading over there myself. Why don't you come with me?"

"Really? You really mean it? I mean, if it's not too much trouble." _Ryoga is almost cute, in a really pitiful sort of way._ Ukyo sighed. "Yeah, come with me and I'll take you right there. Let me cook up a little something before we go, okay?"

Ryoga hastily agreed, and the two began walking. It was early evening, and the sun was just starting to set over the buildings of Nerima. Ukyo quickly made a few okonomiyaki and both teens left the shop. They talked as they walked, some about Ryoga, some about Ukyo, not about Ranma or Akane. Whenever Ryoga tried to steer the conversation that way Ukyo quickly changed the subject.

Ryoga, in his haste to get to the Tendou house, didn't even notice that Ukyo was obviously not in good condition. He barely even noticed when Ukyo stopped mid-sentence and collapsed by the side of the road. He made a quick inspection of her. _Oh, no. This is really bad! I gotta get her to a doctor or something, quickly! Or maybe if I can just make it to the Tendou's house…_ Ryoga picked her up and started running.

"Hmm?" Ranma questioned as he read the little pamphlet that had been placed by his pillow. "Hey Pops, did you leave this here for me?" The panda next to him merely rolled over and went to sleep. "Stupid old man, why don't you ever answer anything I ask you? All you do is just sleep and eat. Oh well, I guess I'll just read the thing."

With that, Ranma sat down and started to read. The flyer was very professional looking, but had no pictures on it, just the print. The Flyer caught Ranma's attention immediately. His eyes widened as he read it.

Are you a martial artist?

Are you looking for a chance to improve yourself? Come to the Martial Arts School Of Everything Goes Martial Arts! We teach hundreds of different styles of martial arts, every aspect of life can be turned into an art. From breathing to bathing, everything here is a martial art! Martial arts cooking, jump rope, figure skating, and even martial arts take-out! We have almost all styles, and we are willing to teach them to those that pass our entrance tests. We have scholarships available to those who score high enough and are willing to help train others. We look forward to seeing you at our school. Please help us keep this training ground secret, and only recommend us or pass this flyer on to extremely serious martial artists.

Sincerely, The Management.

The pamphlet was short and to the point, exactly what Ranma imagined a martial artist's advertising pamphlet would be. The rest of the pamphlet gave detailed instructions, and even provided a map. The training ground was near Lake Biwa.

_Hmm… Lake Biwa isn't too far away. It's closer than China, at least. I've never been there, but I figure I could probably get there in a couple days or so. What's with this 'Everything goes martial arts'? Is someone trying to take our name? Or are they somehow related? There are only two families in the world today that practice Anything Goes Martial Arts, if you don't count Natsume and Kurumi, and somebody had better go look into this. _

"Hey Pops, what do you think? Did you read this thing?" He was answered by a loud snort and growl as Genma-panda continued to snore. _Well, Pop's not gonna be any help. Maybe I should just go alone. Hmm… That's not a bad idea. I was thinking about going on a training journey anyhow, and I might even pick up some good moves while I'm there. At the very least, I'd be prepared for just about anything after this. Maybe for just a few days. Just for a little while, until things get a little less violent around here…_

With the image of Akane burning in his mind, Ranma quietly packed, taking only what he needed to get up to Lake Biwa. Late that night, He quietly left the house, not letting anyone know he was going, just leaving a note that said 'Goodbye, I'll be back. Don't follow me.' Silently, he stole into the night.


	3. Things aren't always what they seem

THESE CHARACTERS ARE THE CREATION OF THE GODDESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI. I REFUSE TO INSINUATE IN ANY WAY THAT THEY ARE MINE, AND WILL ACCEPT NEITHER MONEY NOR GRATUITY FOR THE USE OF THEM. I USE THEM WITHOUT PERMISSION, AND I HOPE TAKAHASHI-SAMA NEVER FINDS OUT, AS SHE WOULD INFLICT UPON ME HER TERRIBLE WRATH FOR WHAT I'M DOING TO HER STORYLINE. PLEASE HELP ME KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING BY NOT SENDING ME MONEY OR ANYTHING.

_Words in italics are thoughts, _and things in these little symbols are spoken in Chinese.

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 3: Things aren't always what they seem

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

Mousse was watching from the rooftop across the Tendou's yard. It was night, and he had carefully placed the letter where he could be certain that Ranma could not miss it. As he peered into the room the hated Ranma Saotome shared with his father, He noticed something that hadn't been there a moment before; the clearly identifiable sight of a large lump under one blanket, rising and falling slowly. That had to be Genma- no one else was able to get into bed and fall asleep before Mousse noticed him or her. As Mousse continued to look through the window, Ranma walked through the door. He was limping slightly, and was holding his head as though he had a splitting headache. Ranma's clothes were a little ragged, and he looked as though he hadn't changed in days.

Ranma staggered to his bed and fell on top of it, his face landing on the letter Mousse had left. For a moment, Ranma just lay there. Mousse was afraid that Ranma was going to fall asleep before reading the letter, but then Ranma looked up and picked up the piece of paper. Quickly looking it over, Ranma's expression grew more and more concerned, then he put the letter down and began to gather his things.

As he watched Ranma pack, Mousse noted how well things were going.

_Hmm, Ranma has found the letter, and it seems that he's very interested by it. So interested that- yes, Ranma is packing and it looks as though he's planning to leave this instant. Better yet, he hasn't awakened his father, which means Saotome is probably not going to tell anyone where he is going._

Mousse worried for a moment that Ranma would tell Akane, but then figured that she was probably half of the reason why Ranma was going, and stopped worrying about it. This was all going perfectly according to plan. First, he had to lure Saotome out of the Tendou house, and then he had to make sure that he never left the training ground. With his contacts there, he hoped that he could do it. He waited for several hours until Ranma looked like he was ready. He watched as Ranma left the house silently, and smiled an evil grin. _Soon, Shampoo. Soon you'll be all mine…I just need to make sure things go well here. Now let's see what's on that note._ Mousse silently stole into the room where Ranma's father still slept, snoring loudly, and picked up Ranma's note. It said 'Good bye. I'll be back. Don't follow me.' _Now just to make sure that there's ample room for misunderstanding…_ Mousse quickly concentrated for a moment, wiggled his hands slightly, and dropped the letter again - leaving a note that just said 'Good bye, Don't follow me.' on the floor. Suddenly, he heard someone scream "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!" and the creak of a door opening then the sound of footsteps in the hallway. He quickly left by way of the window, disappearing into the night.

Her clock struck two in the morning. Akane lay wide-awake in her bed, wondering about Ranma, as she had for several nights now. _What's been going on with him lately? All he does is wander around the house. He hasn't __even been going to school. _Akane's mind was a veritable whirlwind of thoughts and questions, all having to do with Ranma. _Why do I keep thinking about him? What do I want from him? I can't possibly be in love with that pervert jerk; it's all our parent's dumb idea that the two of us were supposed to get married anyways! _"But- when he was fighting Saffron, he said…" she whispered to herself. _-Or almost said, anyways._

"OOH, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!" She screamed. "I guess I'd better go talk to him. I'm not getting any answers, and this way, at least my feelings will be out in the open- even if he does just make fun of me."

She rose from her bed, adjusted herself in the mirror, and checked to make sure she looked all right. _Maybe I should put on some makeup? Oh for crying out loud, I'm acting just like any other girl._ She thought, momentarily disgusted with herself for what she was about to do. _Well, it needs to be done; I can't hold it in any longer._

She quietly made her way out of her room, down the hall, and to the room where Ranma and his father slept. She knocked quietly, hoping to awaken him, but realizing that such a puny sound had little chance of raising him from his slumber.

She sighed, _guess there's no other way. I hope they don't mind if I let myself in._ She wedged the door open a crack and peered in, and saw Ranma's father- and an empty bed. _Is he up?_ She wondered, and pushed the door open a little bit further, expecting to see Ranma awake and pacing around his room like he had been over the past few days.

That's when she noticed the window was wide open- and Ranma was nowhere to be seen.

Ukyou groaned. Her entire body felt sore and full of pain. She couldn't see anything but black, as a damp, warm cloth covered her eyes.

"Patience young one, do not move. Your body still needs rest after such a harsh battle with grief." A soft voice said.

She struggled to speak, but she had to fight to form every word. "How do you know of my grief?" she managed to croak through lips that would barely form words.

The reply was kind-hearted, but amusement was obvious in the tone of voice. "Little Ukyou, you have always spoken the words that are in your heart whilst you slept. I know about your change of heart for the Saotome boy. It is ironic that he whom you once sought for revenge is now he whom you seek for love."

The voice sounded very familiar, but she could not recall a face. She struggled within herself for the strength to open her eyes, but she could find none.

"Ucchan, please, just rest for now. You are in a safe place, but you must rest to heal the wounds that your grief has caused. Do not forget, it was I who returned you to health after the last time you did this to yourself."

Ukyou stopped struggling as realization dawned on her. It was her old mentor, Tsutaro Kuonji, her uncle. He had found her when she was young, shortly after her father died and she had run away. She was near starvation; he nursed her back to health and trained her in the art she most wished to perfect: Martial Arts Okonomiyaki. He had been instantly impressed by the fervor with which she trained, and had raised her from that point on. When Ukyou's skill had surpassed his own, he let her go into the world, to seek out that which her heart was set on: revenge on the Saotome family for the many grievances they had performed against her.

As Ukyou tossed and turned in her sleep, Tsutaro kept watch over her like a concerned parent. He pondered the situation, unable to decide exactly what could have happened to her to make her so upset about something. He knew it had something to do with the boy, Ranma; only affairs of the heart could cause such drastic emotional trauma. He'd have to look into what kind of man this Ranma was…

Ryouga couldn't figure out how he had come to arrive at a lake resort as opposed to the Tendou's house, but after he had entered a section with several small cabins, a nice old man had offered to take care of Ukyou for a little while, so that he could get some rest.

"That's odd, I don't remember **this **being here before…I wonder when they put this in?" _Where did all these cabins come from? There are only about 20 of them here, and I don't remember Nerima being quite so empty. _Ryouga decided to ask someone for directions to the Tendou Dojo, so that he could inform someone of what was going on.

"Hey, where's the Tendou Dojo from here?" He asked a random guy walking on the street, clapping him on the shoulder. Suddenly he found himself flying through the air. Twirling to land on his feet, Ryouga saw the young man enter a ready stance, then stop as Ryouga gave a final twist to land on his feet in a ready stance as well. Ryouga eyed the young man warily. He was particularly nondescript, with black hair, brown eyes, medium height, medium build, and looked perfectly normal in every way, but Ryouga could not help but get a strange feeling from him.

"I'm sorry, stranger." The young man laughed, a smile on his face. "But you surprised me there for a moment. Is there something I can help you with?"

Ryouga dropped out of fighting stance as well. (Big teardrop on his forehead) "Umm, well, I, you see, can you tell me which way to the Tendou Dojo?" The young man smiled warmly, "Oh, you wish to try your skills against Ranma Saotome? Good luck!" Ryouga was slightly confused. How did this man know about his grudge against Ranma? _Ranma must have done something to these people as well._ But he just repeated his question, "Something like that, yeah. So could you tell me which way to go?" "Certainly. Just follow……and then go……and turn right at the……once you've made it there, take the train to……and left at the corner store, and then straight on until you see it on your right."

"All, right, thank you!" Ryouga hurried on his way, amazed that he could have gotten so far off course, but was certain he could reach the Tendou house before too long. _How could he have thrown me so easily? I didn't even sense him move. _He looked back at the strange young man, continuing on his way down the street, and wondered who he was for a moment, then remembered Ukyou's plight and began running.

He'd make it to the Tendou's house soon, he was sure of it.

Yujiro Nakagawa watched Ryouga leave. "Good luck, Ryouga. Saotome will come here eventually. You'll have to find him and get your revenge first, because I have plans for him…" Chuckling under his breath, Yujiro continued to wander around the camp for Everything Goes Martial Arts.

Shampoo entered the Spell Room. Ghosts of spells cast long ago wafted by her on ethereal wings of misty eldritch energies, seeming to call out to her to join them in their work forever; Shampoo always hated coming here, but she had been forced to come here over and over for the past two days. Her great-grandmother could not cast all of the necessary spells on her own, and Shampoo wanted to make sure that her elder was not harming her Ailan any more than was necessary. Plus, she was going to be the one to cast the second series of spells, so she was curious to see if the first set was successful. The first set of spells were supposed to make Ranma fall out of love with Akane by means of using nightmares, which Shampoo and her great-grandmother had chosen. The second set was designed to make him fall in love with Shampoo by means of good dreams, both of which worked on the person's subconscious mind more than the conscious, causing them to think it was their idea in the first place. "You sure spell work, Great-Grandmother?" Shampoo asked in her halting Japanese.

She stared in awe as the matriarch arose from her spell circle, exhausted from the grueling task she had just undertaken, the trails from several ancient spirits all lifting from her at once, making her look like less like a human and more like a fountain of ghosts. She wore a smile, however, and Shampoo knew it was because her great grandmother had taken a liking to inflicting pain on her future son-in-law.

"Of course it worked, child. I did a test spell before we left Japan, and besides, that spell was created from a member of our bloodline over two thousand five hundred years ago. Ranma must be going out of his mind to be away from Akane by now."

"Shampoo happy Ranma want be away from Akane, but sad we have to hurt him."

Cologne snapped back at her with a bitter tone in her voice "Nonsense! That boy has given us more trouble than he is worth. He has no respect for tradition, and is as stubborn as they come. The time for playing is over. Now we must use force to take what is rightfully ours. Either that, or you can try going back to Japan and keep trying what you've been doing, but you'll fail." With that, she returned to her work.

Shampoo looked dejectedly at Cologne, tears just barely held in check as she watched her great-grandmother work the spells that would eventually bring Ranma to her through pain and grief. She only hoped that Ranma could forgive her, and that she might be able to forgive herself. She turned away from her great grandmother, unable to hold back the tears any longer.

She'd make it up to Ranma- somehow. That she swore to herself. After Ranma was hers, she would be sure to make it up to him. But she couldn't let great-grandmother know. She couldn't tell Mousse. She couldn't tell Ukyou, Lin-lin or Lun-lun, or anyone she thought of. Shampoo's mind resounded with her sudden need to keep her secret. Anyone that found out would try to stop her in one way or another. But if it gave her Ranma… _Shampoo make this up to Ranma, even if it take Shampoo whole life._

Author's Notes: Still working through the chapters written a long time ago. I'm going back over them with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that I can continue the storyline successfully. It's working well for my Apology fic, it should work here too.


	4. In the confusion, someone gets hurt

_THESE CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY ARE THE PROPERTY OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND I WILL NOT TAKE ANY CREDIT OR MONEY FOR THEIR USE. SO THERE._

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 4: In the confusion, someone gets hurt

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

Nabiki looked up from the screen of her laptop. Something felt wrong, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was. The whole house just seemed… odd, somehow.

She glanced at her clock; it read 2:27 am. "Maybe I should get some rest," she said to herself.

Her room was dark, the sort of tangible blackness that might scare her two sisters sometimes, but Nabiki was far more sensible than they. She didn't care how dark her room was, she had more than enough ways to protect herself if the situation arose. For all her preparation, however, she had never needed to use any. For the most part, everyone worth knowing in Nerima owed her **something**, and her safety was assured on many different levels by many different loyal followers.

Yet, something tugged at her nervous mind this night, as though she could feel things the way that Ranma or some of the other weird people that came chasing him sometimes did. Something like a sixth sense, she guessed, but she had never come up with anything besides business sense which she had in abundance. She glanced around her room, half-expecting to find something out of place, something there that shouldn't have been. But her room was neat and tidy - nothing out of place, and nothing there that shouldn't have been.

She rose to her feet, turned on the lights and blinked in the sudden incandescent glare that flickered to life in the light bulbs on her ceiling. She opened her door a crack and peered into the gloomy blackness that was illuminated by the lights from her room. She heard a door slide shut a little further down the hall from her room, and poked her head around the corner, expecting to see Ranma sleepwalking, or- infinitely more amusing but improbable- sneaking into Akane's bedroom.

What her gaze settled on unnerved her more than she would like to admit: Akane was slumped on the floor outside the room Ranma and Genma slept in- and she was crying! Akane was sobbing quietly, oblivious to the light that had suddenly permeated the hallway, streaming from Nabiki's door.

Nabiki blinked several times, unsure what to make of this situation, but couldn't figure out what her sister could be doing crying outside Ranma's room. Her curiosity getting he best of her, she slowly walked out of her room, careful not to make any noise. Akane heard her anyway. _Curse living in this house full of weird people that have inhumanly high-powered senses!_

Akane picked her head up at the sound and acknowledged her sister. Her eyes were puffy and red; Nabiki could tell she had been crying for a while.

"Akane, what's going on?" she asked, trying to sound as caring and sisterly as she could manage, given the hour and her shock at seeing her little sister cry- something she had not witnessed since her mother's death.

"He's gone," she whimpered. In her hand she held a small piece of paper upon which was scrawled in Ranma's nigh-illegible handwriting the words "Good-bye. Don't follow me." Nabiki stared at the paper in amazement for a moment, and Akane spoke again.

"I didn't realize I was being so hard on him," Akane said, in a barely audible whisper. Nabiki quickly suppressed a smirk at the understatement of the century.

Not noticing, Akane continued, "I can't believe I've driven him off like this, he must be really upset. I **can't** let him go like this, I just **can't**!"

Nabiki drew back in shock, over both the fact that her sister had allowed this outpour of real caring for Ranma, and also that Ranma had apparently grown a backbone out of nowhere that would allow him to pull such a stunt. He had made Akane cry. Nabiki would find him. After all, she was the only member of the family with enough resources to keep up with someone like Ranma when he didn't want to be found. And he had made her little sister cry. She would find him, no doubts about it.

"Akane, I know you're upset, but we have to think about how to deal with this. We have to come up with a plan to find him. Go to bed, and we'll work with the others tomorrow morning, after we've had a little sleep."

"But Nabiki, he's-" Akane began.

"Is anyone fast enough to catch him, Akane?" Nabiki cut her off before she could begin. "He's faster than any of us. We need to exercise our intelligence in order to catch him. Luckily, I'm on your side."

"Really Nabiki? Do you mean it? You'll help me find Ranma?" Hope began to shine in Akane's eyes, a welcome sight to Nabiki who was beginning to wonder whether or not she'd ever get Akane to calm down.

"If I agree to help you, will you go to sleep?" Nabiki asked, a slight smile playing across her face, visible even in the faint light that stretched from her room at the other end of the hallway. Akane nodded her assent, the tears coming to a halt as she began to hope that she'd be able to find him.

"Good," said Nabiki, with a small grin, "I'll even give you a discount."

Ryoga continued running all through the night, trying to get to the Tendou dojo. His clothes were tattered, his face stung from the many branches that had torn at him on the way.

"Damn you Ranma! It's your fault Ukyo's feelings are hurt! You're gonna pay for what you've done, once and for all!" He cried, his rage and despair building up to truly superhuman levels. Ryoga was used to super depressed feelings, however, and allowed these emotions to spur him on, making him go faster, driving him to find the Tendou residence, that he might be able to find Ranma or- better yet- Akane. Someone would help out, he was sure. They were her friends, the only ones Ukyo had.

_Only one more hill to go, only one more forest and I'll be there. One more river to cross, and I'll be able to save Ukyo._ His mind raced almost as fast as his feet, hardly noticing the changes in terrain as it rushed by him, a huge blur of deserts, forests, towns, and mountains.

Shortly after passing by the Tokyo Tower for the fourth time, Ryoga noticed the sky starting to get brighter over the ocean. "Oh no! I've been going south the whole time!" he cried," I'd better hurry back the other way, or I might not make it there!" With that, Ryoga turned east, and started running again.

Breakfast the next morning at the Tendou household was surprisingly normal, strangely enough. In the early dawn light, Genma and Soun were too busy planning their children's wedding again that they didn't even notice that neither Akane nor Ranma was present. Nabiki had shown up for breakfast, but was not saying anything. She wanted to wait until Akane had arrived so that the family could talk it over.

"I wonder where Akane and Ranma are this morning," Kasumi said, her motherly instincts telling her immediately that two people were missing from her breakfast table. She was the only one who seemed to notice, until Genma remarked on there being more to eat than usual. It was at that time he first started to notice that something was amiss.

"Tendou-kun, you don't suppose those two…" He began to grin a big, wide smile as he and Soun clasped hands, crying, "It worked! Our children have eloped together and now the families are united at last! At last the school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts is in good hands and you and I can enjoy the remainder of our lives in peace!" The two looked happier than anyone had ever seen them. Kasumi beamed brilliantly over the good news. "Oh my, Ranma will my real brother at last!" The two patriarchs were embracing each other in their bliss of finally having their families united when Nabiki chose to disillusion them in her usual, blunt manner.

"Daddy, the two of them didn't run off together, Akane's probably still asleep. She was up late last night worrying because Ranma took off in the middle of the night."

The room immediately stopped seeming so happy. Soun and Genma both immediately turned to Nabiki and stared in astonishment. The look of disbelief on their faces was almost too comical for Nabiki to handle, so she turned her back to them as she continued, "I was working on some business documents last night when I heard something out in the hallway. When I went to investigate, it turned out to be Akane, and she was really upset that Ranma had run off during the night. He even left her a note, see?" Nabiki held out the chicken-scratch note that Ranma had left behind.

"So that explains why the window was open when I woke up this morning," Genma said levelly, while Soun began his usual waterworks, crying as if he had hundreds of gallons of water in his body all fighting to be let out at once.

He turned to Nabiki and blubbered, "Oh, my little girl is going to be an old maid!"

Nabiki drew back in fear; she knew what was coming next- the Purple Demon Head of Doom. She quietly left the room while there was time. Kasumi followed suit.

"SAOTOME! HOW COULD YOU LET YOUR SON DO THIS TO MY LITTLE GIRL! HOW COULD YOU RAISE HIM TO BE THIS CRUEL? SAOTOME, YOU'D BETTER FIND YOUR SON AND GET HIM BACK HERE, OR ELSE!"

Genma quailed in fear, and as he ran upstairs to get away from Soun he idly wondered where Soun had learned that technique, and how difficult it would be for Ranma to master. Then he remembered that Ranma wasn't going to be upstairs, that he had run away the night before. He heard the sound of Soun's footsteps following him up the stairway and began to run faster.

Soun, behind him, cried out in despair. "Don't worry Akane, Daddy's going to make it all better. We'll find Ranma, then he'll marry you." He raced to his youngest daughter's door, drenching it with tears as he continued shouting meaningless babble, and threw it open with such abandon that it came off its hinges and fell to the floor with a crash. Soun gasped, unable to take in what he saw before him: Akane's room, neat and clean as ever, with a bed that was obviously not slept in, a note on the desk- and no Akane. With trembling hands, Soun approached the desk, and read the note that was written there. It was sloppy, unlike Akane's usual handwriting, and the paper was stained with teardrops that had dried hours ago. Soun slumped to the floor, his mind reeling, trying to take in all the implications of his discovery.

"Oh my," Kasumi exclaimed from the doorway, "I guess Akane must have gone after him; how sweet." Kasumi had followed Soun up the stairs to make certain her little sister was doing all right, and had seen her father's shock at finding his youngest daughter not present, but as usual, was completely unfazed by such a discovery. Soun knelt on the floor by his daughter's bed, sobbing uncontrollably as he gave in to the emotions going through his mind.

"Why mister Saotome, where are you going?" Kasumi's voice spoke again from the doorway. Genma froze, a huge sweat-droplet forming on the outside of the white bandanna he wore on the top of his head. He turned around slowly, cautiously, all the while with a big, fake grin on his face.

"Well, I just thought that, uh, I thought I'd do a little bit of shopping, since it's such a beautiful day out… Yeah, that's it, shopping! Hahaha"

"Why that's so nice of you, here's a list of some of the things I might need for the kitchen. If you bring them back by dinner, I'll make something really nice tonight," Kasumi merrily chattered. "Why, I might even make your favorite sukiyaki dish."

Genma looked a little bit strained, "Why thank you Kasumi dear, that would be most lovely. I'd better get going if I want to make it on time."

Genma turned around, ran down the stairs as fast as he could go, and was almost out of the front gate when suddenly Soun jumped out in front of him.

"Saotome, you weren't thinking of running away again, were you?" He said in a very meaningful tone. "I'd hate to think of what would happen if you were to suddenly leave town." He chuckled in a very strained manner.

"No, of course not Tendou, whatever would give you that idea?" Genma also laughed nervously.

"I don't know Saotome, maybe the fact that you are wearing your knapsack." Soun continued to chuckle even louder, "One might think that you were trying to sneak away!"

"Yeah, Tendou, one might think that! I'm actually wearing it to go shopping for Kasumi, though. She asked me to bring back a few things from the market." Genma began laughing as loud as he could, but Soun suddenly became very serious.

"Saotome, don't you think we have more important things to deal with right now than **shopping**? What about Akane? What about Ranma? What about our promise to marry the two of them?" Soun fixed Genma with a fierce look. "**You** need to find them!"

"Now, Now Tendou, don't you think you're going a bit overboard? It was that ingrate son of mine that ran off, and your daughter that followed him."

"Yes, Saotome, but **who** **raised** that son of yours, and he-" He was cut off by Nabiki calling from downstairs,

"Daddy, I've found her. She's all the way on the other side of Tokyo!"

Akane was hopelessly lost; in all of her travels and trips with friends, she had never come this far into downtown Tokyo. The buildings were much larger and more daunting than any she had visited. It was very early morning, just before the sun rose, and the weight of her grief and tiredness was great. She felt helpless and foolish. Worse, she had lost Ranma's trail, and had no clue as to where to find him. Tears began to flow down her face, blurring her vision. Sheer determination kept her moving, however: determination to find Ranma. She continued walking, unable to tell where she turned or where she wandered. Her vision impaired by the tears, she did not know that she had stumbled onto a street until she glanced to her left and saw a pair of bright lights approaching her very quickly.

"What the-" was all Akane could get out as the bright lights consumed her, filling her vision with glaring white light. She heard an audible *thump* and the white light changed to a darkness deeper than any she could have ever imagined.

Ranma smiled as he walked through deep woods somewhere way out in the middle of nowhere. He looked around him, admiring the scenery. He had declined to use a train or other way to get there, as he wanted to try to clear his head. So far, it had been a good idea. Getting out into the open air, practicing his moves out in the wild, and getting exercise had done well in calming him down and making him feel more like himself again. He looked around him, again appreciating the lush valleys, mountain peaks standing out starkly against the sky, which was a gorgeous bright blue the likes of which he had never seen before. "Man, if this is the sort of scenery that you see out here all the time, I might have to chase after Ryoga the next time that the poor jerk goes off and gets himself lost. He must see this sort of countryside all the time."

Once he found himself wishing that he had asked someone to come along for company. Anyone would have been nice. Maybe Ukyo or Shampoo, so they could cook. he hadn't seen either since the failed wedding, and was still rather upset at them anyhow. _Still, they both run restaraunts and are great cooks!_

_But I'm the only item they want on their menu… Man, why do girls all have to be that way? Well, Akane's not like that, but then again, who can tell anything with that macho chick. Well, I don't have to deal with girls at all out here any more; I'm all alone. Just like in that first dream, before Akane started to- to…_ The familiar sensation of loneliness that had been with him his whole trip suddenly intensified so much that tears began to seep out of the corners of his eyes. _NO! I can't cry! I'm a guy! Guys don't cry over some stupid girl!_

Try as he might, Ranma could not stop the tears from flowing. As this became apparent to him, he gave in to the feelings of despair that had been plaguing him for days, ever since the first nightmare. They hadn't stopped, but rather had increased in number over the last few days until Ranma couldn't sleep well at night. The sleep he did get was fitful and gave him little respite from the days. He sobbed for what seemed like hours, thankful that there was no one there to see him. His grief finally acknowledged, Ranma let the tears flow freely as he brooded over what he was to do about Akane.

Ranma had been unable to think in Nerima, with all the distractions that always presented themselves, usually as his new fiancée, opponent, or both. Out here in the wilderness, however, he could think far more clearly, and he spent most of his waking moments thinking about what he was to do about Akane.

As he slept that night, he was again plagued with nightmares about what life would be like if things went the course it seemed they had been going in, if he married Akane. He loved her, he couldn't afford to deny that now, but he just couldn't be with her like he wanted to be. He hated to admit it, but he didn't feel that he was strong enough yet.

Maybe if he were to find a cure for his curse, then at least Akane wouldn't be forced to accept it along with the rest of him. He could go to her as a complete man, not as some gender-bender freak of nature. Who knows? Maybe in a while, then he could go back and finish what he had started, after he was finished training. Maybe someone at the Everything Goes School of martial arts would know of a way to help him.

Shampoo awoke, her eyes still red and puffy from crying herself to sleep the night before. The full realization of what she and her great-grandmother were doing to her beloved Ailan had been too much for her to bear. Cologne had come upon her as she wept, saying "Child, stop that nonsense! It pains me as well to do this, but we have been left no other choices. Son-in-law's near-marriage to the Tendou girl has made this perfectly clear." Cologne spat the words out in such disgust that her true feelings on the matter were perfectly clear. Shampoo lifted her head, and looked up at her great-grandmother with a look of despair. Her great grandmother was lying. Shampoo could see the glee that burned in Cologne's eyes as she began casting the dream spells each day. She enjoyed hurting Ranma. She loved the idea that she was causing him pain. Cologne continued, "Shampoo, how much honor has our family lost because of that boy? You already have been cursed due to him. How much more are you willing to sacrifice for him?"

Shampoo's reply was a terse, "Shampoo give all for Ailan."

Cologne's eyes furrowed. She carefully cleared her throat, "Child, whatever his position is, don't ever forget he is only a male. He is very strong, and adding his blood to our line would do well for our family's honor. We need him, Shampoo, and we dare not return to Joketsuzoku again empty-handed. But he is still only a man. The elders accorded us this favor of opening the library to us that we might be victorious. If you should fail…"

She trailed off, knowing that she had no need to continue. Shampoo was just as familiar with the law as she was, and knew that another failure meant death. Cologne had left her then.

This morning Shampoo felt no better. Her eyes burned, her heart ached, and her conscience weighed upon her so heavily she worried that she might never get up. But get up she did, as today she had to go get supplies so that she and her grandmother could continue to cast the spells that would bring Ranma to her. She still felt terrible about it, but she knew that she had to. Doing anything else meant death- or worse. She wished she had someone she could talk to, but her failures had made her into something of an outcast, and most of the village would have nothing to do with her. Telling anyone about her feelings would probably be one of the worst things she could do. She felt as though it was going to rip her apart from the inside out, but she couldn't do anything about it except to keep doing what she was doing.

A recent letter from Mousse told her that things were going very well. Ranma and Akane weren't even speaking to each other anymore, and never spent time with each other. Shampoo smiled. Today she could start casting the next set of dream spells, and soon she could go back to her Ranma and the two would become married. Somehow the thought didn't excite her as much as she had expected.


	5. One finds no solace in sleep

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: BASICALLY THE SAME AS YOU'VE SEEN IN ALL THE OTHER FANFICS OUT THERE- THESE ARE NOT MY CHARACTERS, I DON'T OWN ANY RIGHTS TO USE THEM OR THE STORY. I DON'T HAVE PERMISSION TO USE THIS STUFF AND IT IN NO WAY REFLECTS ANYONE ELSE'S OPINION ON THE WAY THIS STORY SHOULD GO (OFTEN TIMES NOT EVEN MINE, BLAME THE MUSE- SHE'S MAKING ME WRITE THIS STORY IN THE FIRST PLACE.) IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME SOMETHING, PLEASE, JUST AN EMAIL SAYING YOU ENJOYED IT. (I'LL GET ARRESTED OR SOMETHING IF YOU GIVE ME MONEY.)

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 5: One finds no solace in sleep

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

Ranma dreamed that night, a very different dream than the ones he was beginning to get used to. In his dream, he was training in the wilderness of China, trying to find Jusenkyo. He was hard at work, trying to perfect his moves, but it was very difficult, as he had no one to practice with. As he exercised, he heard a thrashing in the bushes near his camp. He went to investigate, and saw a young woman frantically trying to escape the largest man he had ever seen. Ranma wasted no time, attacking the man immediately. The huge man was at least four feet taller than Ranma, and had a body full of rippling muscles that looked like they could rip Ranma in half if they ever caught him. Ranma was fearless, though, and with a fierce battle cry, he launched himself at the giant man's head, giving him a kick that would have shattered a solid rock wall. The huge man grinned at him, speaking in a voice that thundered through the forest,

"Ah, fortune has brought me another foolish opponent who thinks he is worthy of fighting me. For your folly, little manling, I will make your death long and painful. You will have the pleasure of watching me first tear your body to pieces and then ravage the young woman as you die slowly."

"I don't think so jerk! I am Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial arts. You might be big, but that's no reason to push people around! You've got some lessons to learn man, and I'm gonna teach 'em to ya!"

"All right, you little punk. Let's go. I'll show you what it means to go up against a practitioner of Zanji-Ryogen-Shiwa martial arts! [Author's note: I made it up. It doesn't mean anything. If it sounds corny, sorry.] I accept your challenge!"

The two began to size each other up, both looking for an opening that would gain them victory, and both being surprised that they could find no obvious weak points. Ranma furrowed his brow as he continued gauging his opponent, but his opponent seemed to be smiling as he and Ranma circled each other, something that made Ranma a little nervous. He continued to watch the gigantic man as he circled.

"It's obvious that I'm not fighting someone that has no skill. You move like a true warrior." The giant rumbled. "Perhaps you would be a fitting slave for me once I beat you like a little girl." Ranma glared at him, the fire within him exploding at this insult to his manhood.

"Who are you calling a girl? You take that back!" With that, Ranma launched himself into the air. He came down square on the face of the huge man, delivering a staggeringly powerful drill kick that forced even this behemoth to cry out. As Ranma leapt off of the man's face, however, the man grabbed onto his ankle and swung him around, releasing him so that Ranma was flying with incredible force in the direction of a very large tree. Just as he was about to collide with the tree, however, he felt a pair of strong, slender arms catch him and set him down on the ground safely. It was the girl the man had been chasing!

"Is you OK?" the girl asked, "Both fight man, win for sure! Go now, we beat him." And the girl disappeared into the trees above, moving with such speed that even Ranma found difficult to follow her motions with his eyes. He had other matters to attend to, however. With a crash, a tree nearby toppled over towards Ranma, who expertly dodged. Almost before he could react, the huge man was upon him again, punching and kicking with a speed that such a large opponent should not be able to attain.

Ranma dodged and parried, twisting and retreating as necessary to avoid being hit. He moved as he had been trained, deftly avoiding blows as he tested his opponent's defense. As Ranma was slightly distracted by a branch turning under his foot, the man used the temporary advantage to drive a blow into Ranma's body, striking him with a force even Ryouga couldn't hope to compete with. Ranma flew away from the man and with a sickening *THUD* slammed up against a tree with enough force to break the trunk in half, sending the top crashing to the ground. Ranma rose from the ground, side aching from the blow.

He began to acknowledge the skill of this man, truly beyond anything he normally came across. That meant he could fight with his full abilities. Ranma grinned. He was Ranma Saotome, and he **never** lost a fight. His mind now seriously focused on the fight, Ranma continued scanning his opponent for holes in his defense. He found relatively few, and only those with truly supernatural speed such as himself could use them. He decided to start slowly, and get a feel for what the behemoth man attacking him could handle. With blinding speed, he snaked in with one fist and caught his foe with a body shot. It was only a glancing kidney blow, but enough to gauge his opponent.

A streak shot down from the trees: the girl's attack. She was swift, Ranma knew, but was she quick enough to make a difference? The girl delivered a powerful blow to the man's face as she passed through his defenses quickly. Ranma instantly picked up the man's weakness- multiple opponents. His technique was very good, and he was strong, but he was ill suited to dealing with more than one enemy at a time. As the gigantic form of his opponent stumbled under the girl's skillful and well-timed attack, Ranma rushed in and with a flurry of speed, rained blows on his enemy's head and body.

"KATCHU-TENSHIN-AMAGURIKEN!" The man fell under the force of the blows Ranma visited upon him, and Ranma paused for a moment to view his opponent's reaction to this.

"So the boy truly does have some skill, then. I shall honor that by using the most powerful move in my school. Behold the Zanji-Ryogen-Shiwa final attack: the Dreaded Phoenix Nirvana Strike!"

Ranma backed away slightly; ready for the attack he knew was coming. The man's battle aura flared red, his eyes taking on an almost unearthly glow as he gathered his energies around him. Heat began to radiate from him as he continued to concentrate more and more of his attention on his attack. The hair on the back of Ranma's neck pricked up as he understood what the man was doing.

_ A ki attack!_ Ranma gasped as he saw his opponent gathering together what he would need for a massive ki blast. _I need to hit him before he gets it off!_ Ranma glanced at the girl, getting a good look at her for the first time. She was slightly shorter than he, with long purple hair that fit her very nicely. She had a body that even Ranma had to admit looked very appealing, and her face was flawless. _Actually, she looks really familiar… but where have I seen her before? _She stood at the edge of the newly created clearing with a look of horror etched onto her face that did nothing to hide the fact that she was easily the most gorgeous girl Ranma had ever seen. He understood what the titan of a man wanted with her, and he would die before he let that happen. _All right, then, _Ranma tensed, getting ready. _If that's the way you want to play… _Ranma focused inward, cooling off his aura, attaining the soul of ice that was so important to the move he was about to loose upon his enemy. His aura fired brilliant cobalt, indicating its readiness to be used as a weapon of icy cold. Ranma began the spiral, knowing that the amount of energy his opponent was putting off would be perfect for the move. He hit the center just as his opponent gathered the last shards of energy necessary to put forth a truly massive blast. The man looked at Ranma and put his hands forth to release the blast, but was a fraction of a second too late.

"Hiryuu-Shoten-HA!" Ranma yelled as he released the Heaven Blast of the Dragon into his opponent. The whirlwind created by this move caught even Ranma off guard with its ferocity, he hadn't expected it to be as **big** as it was. The heaven's blast did its job wonderfully, as always, and carried the enormous man away as if he had been a little rag doll. The small area of forest surrounding the man went with him, for the most part.

Ranma breathed a heavy sigh of relief and sank to the ground to recuperate from his arduous battle. He sat for a moment, winded, when suddenly he noticed a shadow fall across him. He jerked his head up to view the source. The girl he had saved looked at him in a very concerned way. Ranma blushed, unable to hide his embarrassment from being so close to an attractive woman about his own age. He was still not used to such interaction.

"Glad you is here. I not beat man by self. You very good, strong." She smiled at him, and Ranma was put more at ease as she pulled away slightly. "You hurt?" She asked sweetly.

Ranma shook his head no, and was about to say that he felt fine when sudden pain lanced through his side, reminding him of the hit he had taken earlier. He winced, and decided that the ground was a very comfortable place, and no, he didn't want to get up just yet. Instead, he lay there for another moment, gathering his thoughts. _Oh, great, now I'm stuck here with some girl who I don't even know and she's really cute and-_

His train of thought was interrupted. "You stay here, I get things to make dinner."

She was making him dinner! _Well, I suppose there could be worse things than this. I better concentrate on getting better pretty quick, before she decides I need medical attention._ Attention focused inwards, Ranma began a healing meditation that would leave him feeling much better.

He awoke to the smell of something cooking. His senses at once told him that he was still in the woods, and that it was nearing dusk. The call of insects and the rustle of animals moving in the brush in the distance told him that there was no immediate danger. He heard a distinctly female voice humming softly to herself as sounds of a meal being prepared came to his ears. _Please tell me that's not Akane tryin' to cook._ Ranma thought to himself. He slowly turned over to get a better look at his companion.

The girl he saved earlier that day sat near a campfire, stirring a bowl full of stew as it simmered in the heat. She moved gracefully, like someone who knew what she was doing. Ranma couldn't help but appreciate the view he had of her moving about the campsite, her lovely form almost dancing from one spot to another, as she accomplished several small tasks. As she moved back to the campfire, she caught him staring at her.

"So, finally you wake up? Is good, dinner almost ready." She returned his gaze quizzically, as if daring him to ask her about herself, her eyes almost hypnotic as she looked at him. "You feel better?"

Ranma got up slowly, stretching his sore body as he rose to his feet. "I feel much better now, thank you." He brushed himself off and inspected his side. _Not bad,_ he thought, _only a slight bruise._

"Hi-ya! You heal very fast!" The girl was quite obviously shocked, seeing Ranma get up so soon after an injury. He sauntered over and sat down next to her by the fire.

"Nice fire. You seem to be pretty much at home out here in these woods. What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" He asked her, trying to make conversation.

"I live out here for three year now. No can go home, so stay here and train. Get strong, then family no force marriage." She stared into the fire, her expression that of intense pain. Ranma inched towards her a little as she continued, "I no want marry, so I run away, but no can escape."

"I think I understand. I was going to be forced into marriage too, but I ran away too." Ranma replied sadly. It felt like so long ago that he had been able to call the Tendou Dojo 'home.' "I had to find a way to… solve all my problems, but as long as I stayed there, they just got worse and worse. So I took off, and here I am." Ranma gazed levelly at the fire, its flames seeming to open up a new sort of feeling in him. He wondered why he felt as though he could trust this girl, even though he didn't know her name. Names didn't matter when you were deep in the woods, so Ranma didn't press the subject. They continued to stare into the fire, each consumed by thoughts of the past, until the stew was ready to be eaten. The two swiftly ate, and spent the next several hours talking to each other, enjoying each other's company.

Ranma slowly became more and more relaxed around the girl, and the two somehow came to sit closer and closer together, their voices becoming softer and softer as the night wore on. The two spoke of families, of friends they had lost, of memories good and bad until far into the night.

Ranma couldn't remember falling asleep, but he woke in the girl's arms! They were entangled as though they had spent the night lying next to each other, and he wasn't wearing much. Embarrassed, Ranma quietly disengaged himself from the girl's grip. He felt strangely wonderful as he contemplated what all this meant. He stoked the ashes of the previous night's fire, blowing the embers back to life, and watched the girl sleep. As her body moved with her deep breathing, he couldn't help but appreciate how peacefully she slumbered, and how well he had slept cuddled up to her the night before. _She's so beautiful…_ Ranma thought to himself as he continued to watch her sleep. _Maybe we could start training together._

Almost as if she had heard his thought, her eyes fluttered open and she rolled to face him. He did not fail to notice that her shirt - **his shirt that she was wearing - **was opened in the front, showing off an incredible display of cleavage, and she was looking at him rather expectantly. A flood of memories came- the night before, their bodies entwined together by the light of the fire, sweating, heaving as they lost themselves in heated passion. Ranma began to blush hotly, wishing with all his might that there were a way out of this, and being unable to tear his gaze away from the ravishing beauty before him. She stared at him for a moment, then spoke.

"Wouda Ailan." She breathed, and the world faded to black.

Ranma awoke with a start. He jerked his body up and looked around. It was early morning, just before dawn, and he was alone.

"Whoa, that was weird!" Ranma looked upward at the sky and realized at once why he had awakened: it was starting to rain. He hurriedly began packing, his mind reeling.

_Why on earth would I suddenly start dreaming about Shampoo?_

The phone rang in the Tendou hallway. The entire household was at the door getting ready to leave when they heard it and Kasumi went to pick it up. "Hello, this is the Tendou residence, how may I help you? … Yes, right away.

Nabiki, it's for you." Nabiki went to pick up the phone. "Yes? … Okay, report… … … … … …" The family looked on as she nodded and furrowed her brow. Finally, she said thank you and put down the phone. Turning to the family, she informed them that Akane had been hit by an unidentified car and then loaded into it and taken away. Soun did the intelligent thing: he fainted dead away.

Akane stirred fitfully in her sleep, throwing off the blanket that draped over her battered body. A very worried young man picked the cover off the floor and replaced it over her prone form.

_ My God, I can't believe I hit someone. She suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I hit her. I guess I must still be in shock. I can't seem to grasp __all of this. I guess it's a good thing that I'm taking all those medical classes after school, at least I know she'll be all right. Oh man, of all the people in the world to hit- Ranma's going to kill me when he finds out about this. Or worse, Nabiki…_***shudder*** _I don't even want to think about what __**she'd**__ do to me if she found out. _"Frankly, I wonder which one I'm more scared of," he mused for a moment, a smile flitting across his features in the dark. _Wow, Akane really is gorgeous. That lucky Ranma, I wish I had a fiancée like her. He doesn't ever appreciate her, though. Not like I could. I guess I'd better call in sick to school; I'm certainly not going today…_ _I better not tell anyone about hitting Akane with my car. What am I going to do with her, though?_

With a glance and a sigh toward Akane, Hiroshi stood and shuffled toward his phone.

_ I can see!_ The first thing Ukyou noticed upon awaking was that the wet cloths across her face had been removed, as had the restraints that had previously kept her tied down to the okonomiyaki grill she had laid upon for the last two days or so. She opened her eyes very slowly, light piercing through the darkness of her thoughts and lancing into the largest of her pain centers and settling there. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to face the harsh brightness of day.

"Ah, I see you're awake. I've received permission for you to stay here if you wish, so please, stay with us for a while, and I might be able to show you a few things I've been working on for the last few years. Which reminds me, I'd like to see how you've progressed in the art. I'm not exactly young anymore, and it would be nice if I had someone talented like you who has given so much to the art to teach some of the more promising students."

When Ukyou finally opened her eyes, she fought against the glare from the window and focused on her teacher, whom she hadn't seen for four long years. He was as she remembered: long, graying hair, slight wrinkles around the eyes, a bit round in the middle. He showed a few signs of the passing years, but his eyes remained the same: a piercing gray that seemed to look into your very soul, uncovering anything that you may wish to keep secret. He was smiling, a sort of half smile, too experienced and knowledgeable to be a grin of pure joy. Ukyou had seen him frown one time, and only one time- when she first met him, and told him of the Saotomes and what they had done to her. It had been that story that made him agree to train her. She wasn't certain, but she thought that he felt malice against them.

Not that it mattered much now, anyways. She had left Ranma, Ranma's father, and the rest of the crazy things in Nerima far behind her. Now she was gone, and none of it would bother her again. She just wouldn't return to open up shop, and everyone would wonder where she was for a little while, and then forget about her. It all seemed too simple, here, at last, was her chance to start up a new life. A life without Ranma or his craziness. A life doing what she loved: cooking okonomiyaki. Feeling the burden of guilt and despair finally lift from her shoulders slightly, she looked at her old teacher in the eye, and said,

"Sensei, I will stay."


	6. Things Go Missing

I DID NOT MAKE ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, NOR DO I HAVE ANY CLAIM TO THEM IN ANY WAY. THEY ARE BEING PERVERTED TO MY WILL AND FORCED TO DO STRANGE THINGS IN THE STORY I WRITE BY VIRTUE OF MY (SORELY INADEQUATE) TALENTS, IF NOT MY CREATIVITY (IF I HAD ANY, I'D MAKE MY OWN CHARACTERS.) THE CHARACTERS ARE THE PROPERTY OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI-SAMA AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE; SO DON'T GIVE ME CREDIT FOR ANYTHING I DIDN'T DO. THAT WOULD BE SILLY. AND ILLEGAL.

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 6: Things go Missing.

A fanfiction by Frictionx42

_Words in italics are thoughts_

"No, no, no! You must heat the grill to the correct temperature **before** you pour the batter on! That way it crisps the outside, but leaves the inside nice and soft." "Yes, Ukyo-sensei." The children chorused as they paid attention to their lessons. Ukyo glanced about her kitchen, at the half dozen young children there who were to study the Kuonji School of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki. Since Tsutarou had been a disciple of her grandfather, the school was still in Ukyo's family name. _At least, until I marry Rancha- STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM!!!!_ She went through this at least twenty times a day, if not more. She really **had** to give up on him. She'd drive herself nuts if she didn't… _All right then, I'll do this for my school, for my students, and for me!_ And she spent another hour relentlessly pushing herself to train the children and make excellent chefs out of them. She felt exhilarated, and loved this training, this lifestyle, and the children. This was only her first day, but she felt something that she had not felt in a very long time: that she was doing the right thing.

Later that day Ukyo soaked in a warm bath that had been built as an addition to Tsutarou's small cottage. As she bathed herself, enjoying the feel of the warm water soothing her tired body, she reflected on how the day with the children had gone. After a day in which she had to treat only one small burn, Ukyo considered it a great success. She seemed to have bonded well with the children, and she had helped them out a lot by teaching them all the techniques that had helped her remember how to do things right when she was a child. It also helped that she was able to show them a few tricks and promise that she'd teach them those things soon. If only she could stop thinking about Ranma all the time! _Oh well, I'll get over him with enough time… maybe I should go see what there is to do around here after classes are over for the day? There are a lot of people here that are just about the same age I am, I wonder what they all do for fun?_ She wondered as she climbed out of the warm bath, donned a robe, and walked to the small, cramped room that she called her own. It had one bed, a small closet, a dresser with a mirror on top, and a trunk for her to keep her personal things. Her bed looked very inviting, but Ukyo felt that she had had enough sleep to last her a while.

Ukyo sighed, remembering her thoughts as she had bathed. She was exhausted. _But, nothing ventured, nothing gained…_ she thought to herself, and began dressing in casual wear. She opted to clothe herself in a slight modification of her usual cook's outfit. Hesitantly, she left her family's battle spatula behind. Comfortably clad in her skintight black pants and blue top with spatula bandolier, she quietly left the small cottage that she and Tsutarou shared, and began walking toward the center of the small village that she now considered 'home.'

* * *

Shampoo smiled. It wouldn't be very long now before she and her great grandmother would go back to Japan and collect her husband. The smile quickly went hollow, however, as she realized to what depths she had stooped to in order to get the job done. She was playing with Ranma's dreams to get what she wanted, and it just didn't feel quite right to her. It wasn't much different than things she'd tried before, but for some reason she felt different about it this time. It felt sneaky and it felt like she was cheating to attain her dream. She was willing to do it to keep the tribe's traditions, however. If it came to it, she would die to protect the tribe's honor. Just before falling asleep, she wondered idly if what she was doing really **was** honorable, because sometimes it sure didn't feel like it. _But if Shampoo get Ranma, it all worth it._

* * *

Akane dreamed as she slept, a fitful dream in which Ranma rejected her over and over, despite her protests and her reminders of the promise their fathers made to each other that their children should wed. She kept chasing after him, trying to get him to listen, but she could never catch him. The landscape was nothing but a bleak white, with nothing in it save Ranma and Akane. It seemed that no matter how fast she ran after him, he inexorably drew further and further away, until she could barely see him on the horizon. Then he turned and spoke in a voice that seemed to come from right next to her, saying, "Akane, it's too late. I never wanted to hurt you, but it seems that we can't get it together no matter how hard we try. I'm leaving you now so that you can get on with your life. I will not be back. Good bye." Akane tried to yell out at him, to tell him to stop, that they could try again and this time it would work, it would be right, but then he disappeared in a bright flare of blue light and Akane screamed. She was left in the glaring white light, alone.

As she looked around the whiteness, images from her past, mostly about Ranma, but some about her more distant past began to flash in front of her. As she watched, the images began to travel by her faster and faster, until she realized that she was watching her life from the present moment backwards. She wondered what this meant for a moment, and then she started nervously. Suddenly she realized that she could not remember any of the things she had seen only seconds before. It was like her mind had been wiped clean, leaving only emptiness and confusion. She knew somewhere that she had a fiancee, but she couldn't remember his name, and that he had come from a far-off place with his father, who turned into a- something. Then she couldn't remember anything about them at all as she was confronted with her mother. The fast-paced movie of her life slowed to a crawl and then stopped suddenly as she drank in the sight of her mother preparing lunch for them, Kasumi at her side, helping her with the sandwiches. Akane burst into tears as she thought of the memories of her mother being stripped away from her, but could do nothing as the images began to speed up again. The tears flowed freely down her face as she watched the rest of her childhood fly by her in a rush of events. Bitterly she bit back the pain, vowing to find her memories again somehow. But now she was left with only the white light of the place where she was, where she had to watch… someone, someone who was very important to her had left, but she couldn't remember where he had gone to or why, or even who 'he' was. All she could remember was that her name was Akane something-or-other, and that this place was very white. She sat down and let her sorrow consume her, bawling as she mourned the loss of the things that she knew were precious to her, but she couldn't remember what they were.

* * *

Like his daughter, Soun Tendo was currently bawling his eyes out. Nabiki's contact had been able to find where Akane was, only to lose her because Akane had been hit by a car. Kasumi just went back to the kitchen and continued cooking, but she no longer smiled and she didn't hum as she worked. Genma-panda went out into the yard and attempted to do some practicing, but since his son had left the night before he didn't have anyone to practice with. Genma settled for working on some katas, but it left him unfulfilled. He sat down at the shogi table that he and Soun played on, and started thinking. It wasn't long before he fell asleep. Nabiki frowned, and headed upstairs. _I'll find her, I've got to find her_...There was no way she could be lost for long, even if it was a kidnapping. Nabiki had contacts that would have made the Prime Minister green with envy. With all of her contacts working overtime to try to find her sister, Nabiki turned her attention to the reason Akane had run away in the first place. Her instincts told her to keep looking in places she'd looked before, even if it didn't make sense. She pulled up the information she had on the Nekohanten, as as she went through the newest information, she frowned deeply. Nabiki wasn't absolutely certain, but she had noticed the Nekohanten starting to do a lot more business all of the sudden, and could sense a sort of urgency about the way that Mousse moved when he thought people weren't looking.

Nabiki had had the Nekohanten tapped and bugged more thoroughly than the Kremlin building almost since Shampoo and her Great- grandmother moved in and tried to shoulder her way in on Ranma- for her sister's sake, of course. She had immediately begun looking into who could be the culprit to his disappearance, and after looking in on the Nekohanten, had been very upset to learn that the amazons had been away at the time. Now, however, things were looking quite a bit more suspicious.

Quickly piecing things together, it started to make sense… Mousse was bringing in massive quantities of customers, and as Nabiki could watch through her specially installed cameras (it was good to have people in the construction business who owed you a few favors…) he seemed to be pocketing the extra money for… something…

That was where it stopped making sense. Unless… Maybe Mousse had an idea of where Ranma had gone. _I'll have to go find out directly from him._ Ordinarily, this would have seemed an easy task, and the silly blind fool was as transparent as could be. Lately, however, as Nabiki watched him, Mousse seemed to have an air of caution about him. Every now and then, he let his act slip and he looked more worried than usual. Most people would be unable to pick up on the minor differences, but Nabiki was more perceptive than the normal person; she was a professional. And her professional 'sights' had just found themselves a target. _It's time to go make the kill…_

The letter had come a couple of days ago, but Mousse was unsure of what to do with it. The letter that had enclosed this one gave specific instructions to give this one to Ranma without delay, but Ranma had disappeared without a trace almost three full days before Mousse had received it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to open it; he **was** terribly curious, but he figured that with all the crazy things that Shampoo and Cologne had tried on Ranma before, it would probably be a bad idea.

* * *

And so there it sat: mysterious, alluring, tempting him at every turn. There was a letter for him too: one that the other letter had come as a part of, but it was nothing more than a facade, a nicety that was engineered to make certain that he didn't feel left out and a command, phrased nicely to make him think it was 'a favor', to give the other enclosed letter to Ranma. It also contained a thinly veiled threat to him not to open the letter.

Mousse had been left alone in the Nekohanten for almost a week, and was beginning to feel that maybe things were finally going his way. He had made more money than the restaurant usually made in about two weeks, mostly due to the outstanding 'magic shows' that he put on constantly to attract customers. He let everyone know that he wasn't allowed to do the shows when the two women were around due to the strange customs they kept as amazons. He also told the customers not to mention his shows around the amazon women. This, in turn kept customers coming back for more magic, since he was only allowed to put on his shows when the women were away.

Every night, however, he had to sit and wait, wondering if his plan was working, whether or not Ranma had made it to where he was going, and the doings of Shampoo and Cologne, which were bound to be more nefarious than ever. Every night, he had to make contingency plans in case one of his other plans didn't work. Every night he had to stare at this stupid letter that his beloved Shampoo had sent his most hated enemy, the source of all his problems: the vile Saotome.

_Hmm, the letter… what to do about it? If shampoo comes home and finds it unopened here, she will know that Ranma is missing and will try to go after him. That cannot be allowed to happen, since Cologne knows of the very place where I have sent Ranma to, and will eventually look for him there. If I open the letter, then I have to deal with any spells that they've cast on it, which could be dire, indeed. It might have information I could use, so I won't get rid of it… I guess that means I have to read it, then. Right, here goes!_

Mousse sat up and with much timidity, ripped the envelope open. He then gasped and held the letter at arms length as if it would bite him. After a second or two, when the letter didn't make any menacing advances on him, he opened his eyes and stared at the letter. It didn't stare back. _Always a good thing,_ Mousse reasoned, and then proceeded to remove the letter slowly from the envelope. It slid out with ease, and he hesitated before opening it. As soon as he touched the parchment that had the letter on it, a small trickle of sparkling lights wound up his arm from the letter and Mousse found himself thinking of how much he detested okonomiyaki all of the sudden. _Shampoo's trying to break Ranma from Ukyo, too!_

"Hello! Is anybody home?" A young lady's voice, instantly recognizable to anyone in the Nerima District who cared about money at all as none other than the voice belonging to Nabiki Tendo. Mousse dropped the letter to Ranma to the floor in surprise. The new-found hatred of okonomiyaki did not leave him.

_What's she doing here?_ Mousse suddenly panicked. He quickly began to move toward the front room, but stopped as he saw Nabiki's head enter the room he was in. She had that look in her eyes, the one that Mousse could have sworn was specially reserved in nature for a cat's prey as the feline hunter moved in on it. It always made Mousse feel quite uncomfortable indeed. That gaze fell directly upon the letter that lay on the floor in front of him. _Oh, crap…_

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry about this chapter being so short. Yarr. That's all I have to say on that subject. Rather than suffer everyone through an entire rewrite of the whole thing (which is about what I'd have to do in order to fix the problems) I'm just going to push on and try my best to plug the holes as I can. The story made so much sense back then, but now...On the plus side, I'm getting to see just how much my writing has improved over time. At the very least, I make a lot more sense now and don't contradict myself constantly, and most of what I write now is in some kind of logical order. Sadly, the first of the newer stuff is Chapter 9, so you have to muddle through the older stuff that doesn't make much sense until then.


	7. Motivations

THESE CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY ARE THE PROPERTY OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND I WILL NOT TAKE ANY CREDIT OR MONEY FOR THEIR USE. IF YOU TRY TO GIVE ME ANY MONEY, MY RABID WEASELS WILL ONLY EAT IT AND IT WILL BE WASTED, SO YOU SHOULDN'T BOTHER. RABID WEASELS ARE FUNNY THAT WAY SOMETIMES… HILDA, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS THE ORIGINAL CHARACTER OF ANOTHER FANFIC WRITER. I'M STILL USING HER WITHOUT PERMISSION, BUT SINCE SHE'S NOT COPYRIGHTED THE WEASELS SAID THEY ARE OKAY WITH IT. BUT IT'S STILL NOT OKAY TO SEND ME MONEY.

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 7: Motivations

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Shampoo couldn't remember a time when she'd been so distressed. Here she was, 24 years old, the best warrior of her generation and two or three on either side, but also the only one of her generation who hadn't managed to find herself a husband yet. Correction: she'd found him all right, but then he went and married that horrible Japanese wench and the two of them were raising a family- a family that by all rights should have belonged to Shampoo. He belonged to her, yet he managed to resist her wiles for the entire time she had known him. Ranma had taken everything she had: her honor, her life, and her heart. Ranma, however, didn't understand that he had wronged her so thoroughly. Her great-grandmother had returned to the tribe years ago, saying that business there needed her touch and that Shampoo needed to take care of things here. Shampoo felt that the true reason was that she didn't want to see her great-granddaughter's repeated failures. That hurt the most: looking into Cologne's eyes and seeing the disappointment, seeing those wizened eyes branding the word 'failure' across Shampoo's forehead. Cologne had been executed shortly after returning. Cologne had been Shampoo's one link with the tribe, except for Mousse, who disappeared shortly after, when some crazy six-foot blond Viking chick by the name of Hilda (see author's notes) dragged him off to some deserted isle and… well, just kept him there. Surprising vigor and tenacity in that Mousse, truly hadn't seen it in him. Shampoo shook her head. No sense thinking about that stupid jerk now, he never was anything more than a nuisance anyways, especially not after Shampoo had met Ranma. She'd been chasing him for eight years now, and she seemed no closer to her goal. Even if she succeeded at this point, she would not be accepted again into her tribe. Shampoo looked again at the Tendo Dojo. There was Ranma, in his kitchen with that disgusting woman. Ranma had learned the husbandly art of cooking very well, and if Shampoo's peeps into the Saotome's bedroom at night proved anything, he had learned the more important husbandly arts quite well. _If only Shampoo listen to great-grandmother, then she still be alive, Shampoo not get kiss of death, and Ranma be Shampoo's._ She had been outcast from her tribe for her failures, her great-grandmother killed, and her entire life had been destroyed. _If only Shampoo listen…_

Shampoo awoke in a cold sweat. "Hi-yaaaaaaaaa! Shampoo no remember ever have such bad dream!" Shampoo was in the small cottage that she and her grandmother were sharing during their visit back to the Amazon tribe. She was shivering uncontrollably and her breathing was ragged. _Shampoo no think about what happen if Shampoo lose. Maybe Great Grandmother right. Shampoo try harder._ Slowly she got up and began her morning exercises. As she completed them, Cologne poked her head in from her room.

"Shampoo, are you all right? You were making strange noises in your room last night. Do you need to rest today?" Cologne looked genuinely concerned for Shampoo's welfare.

"Shampoo okay, no need rest. Need work on spells, right great-grandmother?" Shampoo tried to hide her nervousness, but she was still shaking from her scare the night before.

"Very well, child. Don't strain yourself, now. You must be ready to pick up son-in-law when we return to Japan." As Shampoo turned away and ran to the bathing area, a smile cracked across Cologne's lips. She had no compunctions about using the dream spells on Shampoo. Now that Shampoo was back on the right track, Cologne had nothing to worry about and everything could continue as planned. Ranma's blood would be added to her line, and then her family would be the strongest to grace the tribe for many generations.

Ranma-chan looked around her. Nothing in the forest seemed to look familiar. She had been off any paths for about a day now. _Oh, great. Now I'm starting to be like Ryoga… I wonder how he's doing, anyways? It's a wonder I haven't run across him yet in the few days that I've been gone. It's been kinda nice and quiet, but I wouldn't mind seein' him maybe for a little while, just to have somebody around._

Ranma glanced around, looking at the woods around her. It is very nice and peaceful out here, all by myself… not like it was with Pop. With him, we were always running from somebody, usually because he did something that he never told me about. _I wonder what's going on at home anyways? Pop and Mr. Tendo are probably both angry at me for 'running out on Akane,' and she's probably just angry because her favorite mallet target is gone._ Ranma trembled for a moment when he realized what he had just thought. _Maybe that's all she ever really thought of me…_ Ranma continued to think and wonder as he walked, speculating on his relationship with Akane, and almost didn't notice in time when an exceptionally heavy bamboo umbrella sheared a tree in half just behind where he'd been standing a split second earlier. He turned to face an extremely angry, tattered Ryoga with a battle cry issuing from his mouth.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"

Ranma grinned in response. _That's more like it!_

Ukyo had had enough. Her memories were running rampant through her head, and she couldn't stop them. She remembered the day Ranma's father had run off with her family cart- causing most of the huge mess in her life, and Ranma himself had tried to marry another woman without even telling her! _Some friend indeed! All he ever did is come by for free food! Every time he came by I'd be there for him, like a good little wife and listen to all his troubles. And what did that Jackass ever do for me? Helped me get a waitress. That's all. Other than that, I let him constantly ignore my advances and play games with my heart. I lived in constant question of my femininity, and for what? All for the hope that one day he'd come to his senses and see what was in front of him? _Ukyo grimaced as she scrubbed the grill clean. _If I never see that jackass again, it'll be too soon. At least here I have a future, not like back in Nerima, where the only thing I could be sure of looking forward to was being used and eventually abandoned again. Feh. Some 'Friend'._ Ukyo thought about the word 'friend' a few times. She didn't really have anything in Nerima to bring her back there, she realized. The only people she knew were other fiancees of Ranma, or people that were more friends of Ranma or Akane than friends to her. Even Ryoga, although he didn't really count since he got lost too much to really be considered someone who lived in Nerima. Some of the people she'd been trying to teach over the last couple of days, though... She found herself smiling at the idea of making a life for herself here, out of Ranma's shadow and where she would be appreciated for doing what she loved: making the best okonomiyaki in the world.

"So what you mean to tell me is that while Shampoo and Cologne are off doing whatever they are doing in China, you stepped in and took Ranma out of the picture?" Nabiki was in her usual form this evening, and Mousse was having a very hard time keeping any secrets from her. Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "So you've been building up a stockpile of money since the two left, but for what reason? You aren't going to try anything funny, are you? Where did you send Ranma, anyways?" Mousse was sweating huge drops as the interrogation continued unabated. Nabiki was getting entirely too much information out of what he wasn't saying. He had forgotten what an incredible knack she had for this sort of thing.

"Very well, Nabiki. I will tell you everything, but under one condition. Unless you agree to it, I will not tell you anything else, nor will I let you see the letter." Mousse suddenly became very serious, more serious than Nabiki had seen him in a very long time.

"All right, but before I agree, tell me what the condition is." Nabiki eyed him warily. It wasn't like him to speak to her this way.

"You will say nothing of this to anyone, nor will you interfere." He was looking at her with a strange look in his eyes, like he had something he wasn't telling. Nabiki was a little taken aback by his uncharacteristic boldness, and the skin on her neck was starting to crawl. _Oh well, I still have some tricks up my sleeve if I need to get something done…_

"All right, I agree. Now what have you done with Ranma?" Nabiki asked cockily, "And what are you going to do when Shampoo and Cologne get back?"

Mousse fixed her with his gaze. "That includes at the school, Nabiki." His eyes flashed bright red as his power made the pact unbreakable.

Nabiki was shocked. "We promised not to mention that anywhere here! And how dare you use your powers on another instructor! I shall tell- " She was abruptly cut off as Mousse's spell came into effect, rendering her mute.

"Nabiki-Sensei, allow me to uphold my end of the bargain. I promised to tell you everything you needed to know. First: as you may already have suspected, I have invited Ranma to our school. I have done so for several reasons. It gets him out of the way, for one thing, and also I am certain that you are aware of Yujiro's plans for the school of Everything Goes Martial Arts… most of my students already side with him, and I believe you are suffering from an almost complete breakdown of your once-formidable power structure, am I right?"

Nabiki, wide-eyed in surprise, could only silently nod her head at him in confirmation. If Mousse had that much information, her power base was weaker than even she had thought.

Mousse continued, furrowing his brow, "As much as I hate to admit it, Saotome is a supremely talented martial artist. Neither you nor I have the ability to stand up to Yujiro, but I think Ranma may. It is therefore in both of our best interest to allow Ranma to stay there. I should have discussed this with you first, but I have had very little time to prepare and let's face it; we are now both reduced to grasping at straws. Ranma may very well be our last chance to keep our schools alive with anything resembling honor."

Nabiki could hardly believe what she was hearing. Here was Mousse, one of Ranma's fiercest opponents, sacrificing his pride in an effort to save the school of Everything Goes Martial Arts. The school had recruited her about four years ago, telling her that they needed to create a branch of martial arts business. At first she had scoffed, but then they showed her how serious they were. A Swiss bank account worth several billion yen as starting capital had gone a long way towards convincing her. Since then, she had grown to love the school, not just for its generosity, but also for the quality students it had provided her. The school contained many different types of martial arts, ranging from the normal to the somewhat unorthodox- such as her own school of martial arts business- to schools that she had previously thought impossible, like Mousse's school: Black Magic. Not the kind of 'black magic' fakery that Mousse practiced in front of others, but the real kind of black magic, used to ensorcel opponents into submission with real eldritch power. Nabiki could see what Mousse was saying. She had been very busy trying to find a way to regain control of the organization that she had built, but had been unable to come up with any ideas, and she had seen Ranma do some pretty impossible things.

As Nabiki considered the implications, Mousse continued, "You also asked why I have been stockpiling extra money. Ranma does not have very much in the way of finances. Since he is not the heir to any of the schools currently affiliated with our school, he cannot stay there for free. By our policies, he is too young to teach, so he cannot get in by way of scholarship. His inability to pay is the reason he was not invited to the school earlier. The council had planned to send him the invitation on his eighteenth birthday, but we cannot afford to wait so long. To that end, I will pay Ranma's tuition. I feel it is a small price to pay for the chance to keep my school alive. Don't you agree, Nabiki?" Nabiki was looking at him with a very painful expression on her face. "Nabiki, are you alright? Oh, sorry. Here, let me…" With a wave of his hand, Mousse released her from his spell.

Nabiki quickly began speaking, "Are you nuts? Do you have any idea the kind of interest you can get on loans?"

Author's Notes: I don't recall what fanfiction story Hilda came from. I spent about 4 hours one night trying to find it, with no luck. I recall it being really funny and a good read. She was a tall blond viking chick with a thing for Mousse. I only recall her threatening on multiple occasions to drag Mousse off to a deserted island and have her way with him until he died from exhaustion. I tip my hat in deference to the author who came up with Helga and I only wish I remembered what story I'm borrowing her from, as I would give credit to the author here.

Update: thanks to Fvo, I now know the story from which Hilda (I had her name wrong initially-Hilda, not Helga) to have come from is 'Girl Days', by Kenko. In reminding me, he also re-introduced me to one of my very favorite stories. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, get to it. It's hilarious.


	8. Waking up to the Future

THE WEASELS HAVE FOLLOWED ME ALL THE WAY TO AFGHANISTAN TO ENSURE THAT WHILE I STILL WRITE, I DO NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR THOSE THINGS THAT DO NOT BELONG TO ME. NAMELY, RANMA AND THE OTHER CHARACTERS THAT ARE FROM THE SERIES, NERIMA AND OTHER LOCATIONS (EXCEPT THE TRAINING SCHOOL, THAT'S MINE), AND PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING ELSE. NOW THAT THAT'S OVER, LET ME TELL YOU, WEASELS IN AFGHANISTAN ARE NO LESS DANGEROUS THAN THEIR AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS, UNLESS THEIR BURQUAS GET IN THE WAY. DON'T PISS THEM OFF. (For those of you who don't know, a burqua is the thing that women wear to completely cover themselves.)

_Words in italics are thoughts_

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 8: Waking Up to the Future

A Fanfiction by Frictionx42

Akane walked through the whiteness, unsure of exactly what was going on. She knew she had lost something, but was unsure of what it was. She also couldn't understand how she had lost anything in the bleak landscape of nothingness, but she'd decided that she had better go look and find whatever it was. So she walked. And walked. And walked. The landscape hadn't changed at all in the entire time she had wandered. Something about that didn't make sense to her, so she thought about that as she continued looking for whatever it was that she had misplaced. Her stomach growled.

"I wish I had something to eat." Akane said to herself, since there was no one else around. Suddenly from out of nowhere the scent of eggs, bacon and pancakes rose up and entranced her for a moment in its heady aroma. The sweet fatty fragrance of the bacon toying with her nostrils while the more robust odor of the eggs and pancakes served to intensify her already ravishing hunger. She stood for a moment, savoring the smell of a hearty breakfast just like – like… like **someone** used to make. Visions of a long-haired woman swam in front of her, and then faded slowly, becoming replaced by a lighter-haired boy busily working over a stove. Akane blinked and her eyes came into more focus. She was laying on a couch in someone's living room. The boy was in the kitchen and as she sat up, he turned to look over is shoulder at her. He looked sort of familiar, but she couldn't remember his name.

"So, Akane, you finally woke up," he said, wiping his hands off on a towel and moving towards her. "You have good timing, I'm making breakfast." He smiled at her as he approached. He continued to seem familiar, and Akane didn't want to embarrass him, so she ad-libbed something, hoping to stimulate conversation and give her the answers she was looking for.

"Yes, that's what woke me up. You're making eggs, bacon, and pancakes, right?"

He smiled, "Yeah, I know it's more appropriate for an American breakfast, but I like it."

"Are you studying English?" Akane asked him.

"Yeah, I study it after school and before I go to night school." He said, "I'm trying to get into an American college."

"Wow, you must study a lot…" _I'm still not sure who he is, though. Maybe I should just go ahead and let him know that I don't remember him._ She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

"So how are you feeling, Akane? You were unconscious for a whole day after I- after you were hit by a car."

"I was **what**!?" Akane shrieked.

"Well, you were hit by a car, and I was nearby, so I picked you up and brought you here. My mom was a nurse, and she taught me some things, so I was able to take care of you." He looked very nervous. "It was all I could think of to do. So are you okay, do I need to take you to a hospital?" He looked very concerned.

"No, I feel all right, but umm…" She blushed a little.

"Akane, what is it?" the concerned expression on his face deepened.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Ukyo wandered down the dirt path that passed through the training camp and functioned as the main road through the camp. There was loud music coming from behind one of the cabins, and she made her way towards the sound. Behind the cabin was a large pavilion. There were lots of people her age there, and they were dancing to the music with a practiced grace. She observed from a distance for a few minutes, watching the movements of the other people gathered there, and then realized that she was tapping her foot to the beat. _Well, I might as well introduce myself._ She casually strode over towards the throng of people, and was greeted warmly by a familiar girl who was hanging out at the edge of the crowd. _She was in one of my classes yesterday..._ Her name was Asuka and she had been trying out the school to see if it would help her learn how to cook. She had been friendly enough, and she and Ukyo had gotten along well. She called out to Ukyo as she approached.

"Ukyo! I was wondering if we'd ever see you here. Come join us!" The girl next to her nudged her sharply in the ribs. "Ow! Hey, she hasn't been named an instructor yet, so I can still be familiar with her!"

Ukyo looked at her curiously, "What are you two talking about?" she asked. The second girl blushed hotly and looked at the floor quickly while Asuka responded to Ukyo's question.

"Oh that's right, you're new here. Since you were teaching the other day, my friend Sachiko here thought you were an instructor. If you were, we wouldn't be able to hang out together. But since you are only an assistant instructor, it's okay." She continued swaying to the beat as she spoke. "If you want, tomorrow we can hang out and I'll show you around a bit more and let you in on the ground rules of this place."

"That sounds good, let's meet after-" Ukyo was cut off as shouts rose up from the center of the crowd. She turned to get a better view of what was going on. A large circle of empty space had cleared out of the middle of the throng and two people were squaring off in the center. They were both still dancing, but in all other respects, to Ukyo it appeared that the two were about to fight.

"Oh, man, not these two again!" Asuka sighed. "Honestly, you'd think that these two would give it a rest."

"What do you mean?" Asked Ukyo, without prying her eyes from the two dancers. The beat swiftly changed from one song to another. Ukyo recognized it as a song from a popular martial arts movie that had been released recently. Suddenly, the two twisted into a flurry of motion, and one was kicked up high into the air to land outside of the crowd of people gathered. The music ebbed and slowly began to fade into a different tune. The crowd cheered and began moving to the beat again.

"I mean those two fight all the time. There's this girl they are both into, and she encourages it. So far, that guy, Yujiro Nakagawa, has always won. Nobody has beaten him yet; no matter what school they try. He's really good."

_I bet Ranma could- DAMMIT!_ Ukyo grimaced as she cut that thought short. Asuka didn't notice, and continued explaining.

"There's a rumor floating around about this other guy that will be coming here in about a year or so, and they say that this guy might even be able to beat Yujiro! I can't wait for him to get here. Yujiro's kind of a jerk, but the way things are now, he's going to inherit the entire training grounds and run things when the current master is gone. If that other guy comes and takes the school away from Yujiro things will be a lot better."

Asuka continued to speak, and as she spoke, Ukyo began to notice that there were people watching Asuka. They flitted in and out of her peripheral vision and made her feel sort of uneasy. Every time she turned to get a better look, however, they'd blended in with the crowd so she couldn't make out exactly who it was. No one else seemed to notice, though, so Ukyo dismissed it as a product of her imagination. Over the next few hours and at the prodding of her new friends Asuka and Sachiko, Ukyo finally let loose and started dancing in earnest. She lost herself in the rhythmic beat and began for the first time in a very long time to enjoy herself. She returned home very late and exhausted, but with a huge smile on her face. She slept soundly that night for the first time in months.

* * *

"Ranma! How dare you take off and run away after what you've done!"

Ryoga was in his usual mode: jump out of nowhere and attack Ranma for no discernible reason. It was getting really old, but its familiarity made Ranma feel a little bit better. After all, he'd been alone in the woods for a while now.

"Hey Ryoga, long time no see! How the heck are ya?" Ranma mockingly asked as he effortlessly dodged punches that would turn any normal man into a quivering pile of boneless goo.

"And how dare you take me so lightly! I'm gonna rip your stupid head off!"

A perfectly normal day for Ranma…

"C'mon Ryoga, why don't you just tell me what you're mad about this time!" Ranma continued to effortlessly dodge the already fatigued Ryoga's punches and kicks. Ryoga doggedly pursued him, but the speed and ferocity of his attacks were slowing more and more due to the strain of running all the way from one end of Japan to the other with Ukyo on his back. Ranma finally tired of his game and, deftly sidestepping a tired blow, slid around Ryoga's back and put him in a lock.

"Ranma! You let me go right now or I'll-" Ryoga sputtered.

"Damn it Ryoga, why can't you just tell me what the heck you're angry about this time! Then at least I'll know why I'm fighting you! Tell you what, let's eat, and if you still think I deserve it, we can fight when we're done." Ranma demanded hotly.

"You hurt Ukyo!" Ryoga shouted.

"I what?" Ranma's reply was one of pure shock. Ryoga squirmed quickly out of Ranma's grasp. He then went on to growl the remainder of the story to Ranma as the two sat and ate the stew that Ranma had been about to eat for himself. At Ranma's prodding, Ryoga gave a detailed description of the small village where he had left Ukyo at, but avoided telling Ranma about the young man that had thrown him so easily.

_Interesting, it sounds like Ukyo is already at the training grounds that I'm heading towards,_ Ranma thought to himself. _Maybe I can meet up with her there and make sure she's okay. I have to ditch Ryoga first, though. I can't have him messing up things._ As Ranma thought to himself, Ryoga finished up his story.

"-so I came around this tree, and there you were." He slurped down the last of his stew as Ranma looked at him in concern.

"Well then Ryoga, I need to get to that village. Can you take me there?" Ranma managed to ask without breaking out into gales of laughter.

"Of course I can, it's this way!" With that, Ryoga turned north and began running as fast as he could. "You better make it up to Ukyo when we get there!" Ryoga yelled over his shoulder as he left. Ranma stood and watched as Ryoga vanished into the woods, sighed, and began cleaning up after the stew. As he cleaned, he began to smile to himself.

"Heh, that was easier than I thought."

* * *

Nabiki had stopped by the Nekohanten on her way to school in an attempt to glean more information out of the not-as-hapless-as-he-acted Mousse. The letter that Shampoo had sent for Ranma had been full of silly fluff: 'Airen this' and 'Shampoo no can wait to come back see Ranma' and the like. Nabiki had gained no information by reading it. Mousse had given it to her as soon as she'd walked in the door that morning. The look on his face as he handed it to her let her know that he didn't want to have anything to do with the letter anymore, so she'd put it in her schoolbag for the moment.

Undaunted, Nabiki tried again to get some information out of Mousse, "So let me get this straight, you're sending Ranma to our School for no other reason than to let him start working on Yujiro, huh?" Nabiki made it clear with her tone that she wasn't going to be brushed off this morning.

"As always, Nabiki, you know there is more than is being let on." Mousse grimaced, not wanting to mention this, but after all, a promise was a promise, and Nabiki's ability to discover loopholes in any contract-such as the one he'd sealed with his dark arts a day earlier- was legendary, going back on his word meant that his power would rebound and attack him, something he did not wish to experience. "Shampoo and Cologne left to return to China a couple of weeks ago, as I'm sure you've already surmised. And of course, they are not there to give up on Ranma, but rather to find new ways to try to sway him to a marriage with Shampoo." Mousse steeled himself and pounded the wall he was standing next to, "I cannot let her marry him."

Nabiki opened her mouth to ask something, but Mousse cut her off.

"Before you bother to ask, I have no idea what they are doing to prepare. All I can say is that if they have returned to the village, then they have the consolidated knowledge of all the amazon's history available to them, and I would expect anything. The things that they have access to now frighten even me to the depths of my being. I would suggest that you take all precautions possible for yourself and your family. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to open the restaurant." Nabiki stared at him in amazement. She'd seen an example of the things that Mousse dealt with, when she'd told him she didn't believe that his magic could be real. He'd shown her a small amount and it had given her nightmares for weeks. _If Mousse's scared of the things that they can do, maybe it's best that Ranma be gone for a little while. I need to find Akane first anyhow._ She left the Nekohanten without a goodbye, and walked to school puzzling out what she could do next.

* * *

Author's Notes: Holy cow, I went to Afghanistan 7 years ago! And that's the last time I wrote anything for this story! Dang... That's the end of what I had before the MMO bug bit me, and now I can finally go about writing some new stuff. I'm just really glad I was able to find the last 3 chapters in my unexpected backup files. Now I don't have to rewrite them as well as try to get new material. Hope you had fun imagining little weasels in burquas, I know I **thought** it was hilarious at the time...

Anyhow, I hope the next chapter and the remainder after that are a vast improvement, as that's when I break away from the stuff that was written before the MMO bug and finally get some new material out. I've been going over things and making small changes here and there, but I've kept those to a minimum in an effort to write new chapters. Unfortunately, this story was so jumbled that I had to redo several chapters and fix a variety of plot holes both small and large. This is slowing me down considerably, but I think I finally have a handle on it.


	9. Dragged back to the past

THIS IS A WORK OF FANFICTION. THAT MEANS THAT I IN NO WAY CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF THE CHARACTERS USED TO FULFILL SOME SICK LITTLE WHIM OF MINE AND I SHOULD LIKEWISE IN NO WAY BENEFIT MONETARILY FROM THE USE OF THEM. MY HERD OF RABID WEASELS RAN AWAY A WHILE AGO, BUT I'M SURE THEY'RE LOOKING TO COME BACK NOW THAT I'M WRITING AGAIN. AFTER SUCH A LONG TIME I'M CERTAIN THAT THEY'RE HUNGRY. THEY CAN BE APPEASED BY YOUR REALIZATION THAT RANMA AND COMPANY ARE OWNED BY RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND WHATEVER COMPANIES SHE HAS DETERMINED ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO HELP HER CONDUCT BUSINESS. SADLY, I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 9

A fan fiction work by

FrictionX42

_Stuff in italics are thoughts._

_Oh man, what am I going to do?_ Hiroshi moped to himself as he tried to avoid blatantly staring at Akane as she did some stretches and general workouts. _She's beautiful, she's athletic, she's smart, she's **in my apartment**... and I'm responsible for hitting her with a car and giving her amnesia. _It was the day after the accident, and Hiroshi was overcome with guilt. He had barely tasted the food he cooked for the two of them, despite Akane telling him that it was delicious. It was Sunday, so they didn't have school, and she'd spent most of the morning trying to get him to cheer up. _I suppose I should be thankful that nobody's shown up to kill me yet,_ Hiroshi moped, _but I really should get her back to her family soon or someone's going to start asking questions._ He sighed audibly.

"What is it, Hiro-chan?" Akane asked, noting his distressed demeanor.

Hiroshi blushed at the familiar way she was talking to him. "Tendo-san, I thought I asked you to stop calling me that... It's not right."

"Come on Hiro-chan, it's what old friends call each other, right? I don't know how good of friends we were before, but you're the only person I can remember right now, so you're stuck with it." Akane smiled at Hiroshi, she felt pretty desperate to help him feel better, since he seemed so downhearted. _He's helped me so much, taking care of me after I was hit by that car..._

"Can't you at least call me 'Hiro-kun' instead?" Hiroshi asked. He felt like he had too much on his mind to worry about getting distracted by cute pet names, but it was Akane of all people calling him that. Akane sulked slightly.

"Okay, Hiro-kun. But you have to call me 'Akane-chan'. Deal?" she put out her hand, pinky finger extended.

Hiroshi blushed, as embarrassed to consider being so familiar with Akane as he was to be making a promise in such a childish manner. He extended his own pinky finger in response, however, and exulted in the smile that she gave him. _She really is nice, _he thought as he voiced his assent. "Okay, Ten- Akane-chan. I promise." They shook pinkies and he looked away from her, face turning red. His eyes found the clock as he turned, reminding him that Akane had already been in his house since the day prior, and he recalled his earlier train of thought. _I really need to get her home. _Turning back to face Akane, Hiroshi quietly suggested that they leave. "Hey, Akane... I know you don't really remember your family right now, but we should get you home. Your family is probably worried sick about you right now. I'd have called, but I don't know the phone number. Maybe you'll remember more if you're in familiar territory. If it doesn't work, maybe your family can take you to see your own doctor."

Akane considered this. "I guess. If you think it'll help, it's worth a try. I'm ready to go when you are, Hiro-kun." Akane felt extremely nervous, but did her best to hide it.

Hiroshi sighed again. Grabbing his keys, he opened the door and held it for Akane. _Now I know what my english teacher meant when he said, 'All good things must come to an end.'_

_

* * *

_

At the end of a long and tiring, but very successful, day working at Ucchan's, Ukyo was in the middle of cleaning up for the day before heading upstairs to finish her homework and study until it was time for her to call it a night. Doing the dishes was a simple enough task, as it was merely a mechanical job that required repetetive motions and little thought. Ukyo was glad to have something to take her mind off of the guilt she'd been feeling lately over her attempts to demolish Ranma's wedding. It had only been a couple of weeks, and she hadn't seen Ranma since. That was a good thing, she considered, as she didn't have any clue what she'd say or do to try and make it up to him. In the end, she'd decided to just try to work so hard that she'd forget all about it.

Ukyo adjusted the headphones on her music player as they threatened to fall off when she bent over the sink. As she straightened up again, she heard a knock on the door. Sighing as she wiped her hands dry on a towel, she made her way to the dining room of Ucchan's.

"I'm terribly sorry, but Ucchan's is closed for the evening!" She called sweetly to whoever was at the door. The knocking merely continued.

Ukyo made her way to the door, figuring that if whoever was still knocking had heard her then they obviously had something important for her. As she unlocked the door, the knocking ceased and when she opened it, she found herself staring into Ranma's face. He didn't look happy at all.

"Good evening Ukyo. May I come in for a moment?" Ranma's voice sounded mechanical and hollow as he spoke formally and precisely, not looking her in the eyes.

It chilled Ukyo to the bone, but despite her shock she managed to nod and open the door for him. He brushed past her and the familiar tingle she felt every time he touched her still brought her breath to a momentary standstill. This time, however, the tingle was mixed with a sort of dreadful anticipation. _I guess it's time to face the music._ Ukyo thought to herself as she took off her headphones and placed them on a table nearby. Turning to face Ranma, she forced herself to smile and asked in a hopeful manner,

"Are you hungry, Ran-chan? I haven't finished cleaning up for the night, so I can-" Ranma interrupted her with a shake of his head.

"No, Ukyo. Kasumi made an especially big dinner tonight, so I'm not hungry. I need to talk to you about something." He still didn't look her in the eye, and his different style of speech was really starting to frighten her.

Ukyo could feel her heart shatter as she managed to stammer, "S-sure Ranchan, anything you need."

A momentary flash of rage was all the warning Ukyo got. It wasn't nearly enough. In a flash, Ranma had crossed the distance between them and planted his fist in her gut. The breath driven out of her, Ukyo was stunned for a moment as she raised her eyes to meet Ranma's for the first time that evening. What she saw there made her eyes widen in horror. Ranma's eyes were still the same deep, cerulean blue that she had come to love so strongly, but something about them was off. It was as if she could see something within Ranma had broken, and that he was no longer even remotely sane. Her senses filled with dread as Ukyo slumped to the floor as she struggled to regain her breath. The fact that Ranma had just disabled her with a single blow only added to her frightened state. She noted Ranma speaking loudly as he went to her door and relocked it. His voice had lost its formal edge and was now quite angry and she noted that it, too, revealed Ranma's loss of control over himself.

"Anything I need, huh?" Ranma was practically raving, "What about needing a **friend**? I guess it's only anything I need as long as it's somethin' that **you** want!"

Ukyo felt Ranma touch a series of points on her back, and she felt her body stiffen. She realized that he'd completely removed her ability to defend herself. She regained the ability to breathe, but the sense of dread she felt only magnified as she felt him lift her body up in a bridal carry and move upstairs to her room. She noted the irony that she had long dreamed of him doing exactly that, but under far different circumstances. He lay her gently upon her bed, and as he started to remove her clothes, Ukyo found herself full of mixed emotions. Part of her was beginning to get really excited over the possibilities, and another part of her was disgusted and frightened over them.

When Ranma began dressing her in pajamas, Ukyo likewise felt partially disappointed and relieved. That didn't last long either, however, as Ranma placed the covers over her and lit a candle. He then drew one of her small spatulas from her bandolier and placed it into the waistband of his pants. As Ukyo followed these motions, she noted that beside her spatula was a tiger-striped bandana with a set of bells (just like the ones Shampoo used in her hair) and a white duck feather tied to it, flanked by two roses-one red, one black- and a lacy bra that Ukyo now had no reason to believe didn't come from the old pervert Happosai's collection of frilly underthings. _All of the people that messed up his wedding day..._ Ukyo noted that that meant that Ranma had come to her last. She wasn't sure if that meant anything, but she felt deep in her heart that rather soon, that wasn't likely to matter much anyways.

"Ucchan..." Ranma's voice trailed off for a moment, and his use of her nickname finally brought the tears that she'd been too scared to cry earlier to her eyes.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Ranma finished, then he set the candle down and turned to face her. She noted the crazed look in his eyes had diminished significantly and he wore an expression of true regret. Then he took up a strange fighting stance, almost as if he was trying to draw himself up into himself. _Umisenken... He mentioned this once..._ Ukyo recalled. As Ranma began to fade from her view, Ukyo suddenly realized that Ranma had placed the lit candle far too close to her curtains. Having no ability to move her body in the slightest, she couldn't do anything to stop it. She couldn't even watch it happen. She could only wait, at first in anticipation as she smelled smoke, then in agony as the flames began to lick at her body...

* * *

Ukyo woke with a start. Her heart was racing and a chill from her dream settled in the bottom of her spine and unsettled her. _What a scary dream! I feel odd... Like something really bad's gonna happen today. I can't remember the last time I had a dream that vivid and detailed... _Ukyo tried to shake the worry from her, but all she succeeded in doing was in waking herself up the rest of the way. _Well, if I'm not getting back to sleep, I guess I'll go make something for breakfast._ Ukyo rose and threw on a yukata she had hanging nearby. _It's not even dawn yet... I'm glad I didn't go dancing again last night or I'd have a hard time teaching today._ Ukyo prepared some batter and readied the kitchen. Soon the smell of freshly made okonomiyaki permeated the air. Just as the okonomiyaki was cooked to perfection, Ukyo heard a knock at the door. She flipped the okonomiyaki onto a plate and went to answer it.

* * *

Ranma could smell something wafting over the normal scents of the forested area he'd been wandering through for the last few days. It was the smell of something delicious cooking, and it made his mouth water and his stomach growl. He frowned in distaste at his abdomen. _Love, hunger... why is it that the only fights I lose are against __**me**__? _He'd been awakened earlier by another nightmare. This time it had been about Ukyo. Ranma was beginning to get sick of the constant nightmares he was having. The dreams he occasionally had were nice, and as he walked he considered the odd fact that the nice dreams always seemed to feature Shampoo rather heavily. Thoughts thus preoccupied, Ranma almost didn't notice as he walked into a different terrain. Thunder rolled ominously in the distance as Ranma came out from the tree line and into a large open area. In the pre-dawn light he could just make out the shores of Lake Biwa with city lights across its deep waters to his left, and a series of cottages and small dirt roads in front of him. _The place looks pretty normal for a training ground..._ Ranma was confused for a moment, then pulled out the flyer and read over the part describing the location again.

He'd already looked around for some of the landmarks mentioned in the flyer. In fact he'd already found some, such as the animal statues that were placed on the small ridge line that created the tiny peninsula on which the training ground was located. After only a few moments Ranma was able to make out a large statue down by the water's edge. _That's the statue that's on the flyer! I guess that means that this is the place. Guess I should go check it out._ Stepping off the grass and onto a well-worn dirt trail, Ranma strode through the small collection of buildings until he came to the one from which the delicious scent was drifting.

_Don't want to introduce myself to the master of this place on an empty stomach, I wonder if I can buy a little food from whoever's cooking in here... _With that, Ranma approached the door of the cottage and knocked. _Dunno what kind of people are here, so I better be careful and make a good first impression._ Ranma could hear some footsteps approach the door from the other side. As he heard the door handle turn and the door begin to swing open, Ranma lowered his head in an almost-respectful manner. (AN: This is Ranma we're talking about here...)

"Sorry 'bout this, but I was wondering if I could buy some of the food you're cooking. I just arrived here and-" Ranma stopped as he heard a girl gasp and he glanced up just in time to see Ukyo scream!

Ukyo opened the door to a sight that she could not have expected. Ranma, right in front of her! It was too much for Ukyo, who had just started to calm down from her horrific nightmare. She let out a blood-curdling scream.

* * *

AN: Short chapter, but that was a really good place to leave things off, so that's what I'm doing. Plus, I figure a short update is better than none at all.

I think that dream sequence is the darkest thing I have ever written. I hope I don't ever have to write something like that again. I know I'll have to though, if I ever finish this and get around to some of the other fanfics I intend to write. I have notes on about 12 that I'll get around to someday...

The landmarks I refer to actually do exist. I did a pretty expansive search on the area in which I'm basing this training ground (I really should name it one of these days... I'll open that up to suggestions, what do you think?) and I found the exact spot that I want to put it at. I found some pictures posted on google earth. If you look enough, you can see them too. It's a small peninsula on the northern part of Lake Biwa, near the town of Sugaura (name of town according to Everytrail). I think that things work out well since I've heard that Ukyo tends to speak with a Kansai accent and Lake Biwa is in that area, so it made sense to me to put things there. It's a beautiful place, and I very much intend to go there at some point. I'll post pictures when I do.


	10. SpoilersEnding

Please see my poll up on my profile.

My apologies, I posted the wrong file earlier so people got no explanation of what was going on. I hope they figured it out anyhow.

This fic is dead. I found my muse for it laying quite unnaturally still, along with a note explaining that she felt bad about getting in the way of other stories. The note wasn't in her handwriting, but all of my other story muses were quite... persuasive in convincing me it was real. Dictated, maybe?

Anyhow the point is that I don't want to leave people hanging too badly, since I had actually planned this fic out all the way to the end. So I'm posting my notes so that anyone who wants can read them and see where I was planning to go with the story.

I'm not likely to ever pick it back up again. I made a lot of mistakes trying to fit too much into this that it was difficult to focus on anything. I may try to rewrite it or continue it after I have more experience as a writer. This was my first fic ever, so I did learn quite a bit and I'm taking some of those lessons learned into other stories. Maybe when I learn more I can come back and fix this. Maybe when I get some time to do much other than work and sleep...

Oh, and before I forget: If you don't like spoilers then don't read this. But you may be waiting for a VERY long time for me to do anything else with this story. I'd be willing to let somebody else continue this if they want.

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This is to help those who don't want spoilers not accidentally read more.

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10: Ukyo notes that her scream woke up a lot of her neighbors, and drags Ranma into her cottage. She

sits him down and feeds him while the two have the talk that I've had intended for them. Ranma

doesn't take it too well, but realizes that she's really trying to give him more freedom, so he

relents. He's had dreams about her too, with the most recent being only the night before. Ranma and

Ukyo agree to act as though they'd only been aquaintences, as opposed to fiancees. Ukyo's uncle

listens to the whole conversation, and decides that he no longer needs to exact revenge on the boy,

since Ukyo's attack on the wedding not only caused enough trouble, it caused enough damage to the

area that combined with Shampoo and Ukyo's attack on Ranma's mother's house, released him from the

engagement. Since Ukyo was the one to request this, Ranma aquiesces. As Ranma nears the end of his

breakfast, there is a knock on the door. It is Yujiro, and he requests that Ranma follow him to go

meet the Master.

Back at the dojo, Akane and Hiroshi arrive and are greeted warmly. Akane doesn't immediately

remember anyone but her father at first, but recalls Nabiki after she tries to extort money, and

Kasumi after eating some of her cooking. Everyone else is upset that Akane doesn't remember Ranma

yet, but Nabiki points out that it's best that she doesn't, since nobody knows where he is. That

being said, she goes and has another talk with Mousse. Akane has her first nightmare where Ranma

takes everything she has, then tells her that she is useless and can't stand having her around. She

still doesn't remember who it is, but feels that she'd rather not, if that's the sort of thing he

does.

Things to stick in when I have a short chapter:

Amazons find out where Ranma is - They have to back off because of some past history with that

school's master. Shampoo is pardoned since the non-interference pact takes precedence. Do it by

chapter 15 or it'll really be too late.

11: Ranma and Yujiro meet up with the Master of the training grounds, and when Ranma brags about his

'family art', it's pointed out to him that Happosai and Chingensai used to be students there. As

Ranma looks around, he notes that the younger students going through the basics are being led

through katas that are intimately familiar to him. Discuss Happosai's past with the training grounds

here, as Ranma becomes more and more excited about this place. The Master says that he's been

watching Ranma for a long time now, and would like him to consider staying on. He mentions that he

had been planning to invite Ranma as soon as he turned 18, since he could help teach at that point

and that would allow him to stay for free, but that someone had paid his tuition up until that time,

and thus Ranma was welcome to start now. Ranma asks who paid, but the Master says that the person

preferred to stay anonymous. The Master also mentions that he is considering retirement, and that

Ranma may be a good candidate, along with Yujiro, who has been there for quite some time. when they

are dismissed, Ranma challenges Yujiro, saying that he'd like a chance to size up the competition.

Back in Nerima, Akane returns to school and gets reaquainted with her classmates. She remembers them

soon enough, but decides to have Hiroshi(and Daisuke) join them for lunch, since she still feels

very comfortable around him.

12: Ranma wakes up, face down in the dirt. A number of people have surrounded the location where he

and Yujiro fought, and they are eying him warily. Yujiro is nowhere to be seen. Ranma picks himself

up, and is greeted warmly by a boy around his own age. The boy mentions that nobody had ever given

as good a fight against Yujiro as Ranma had just done, and that he shouldn't take the loss too hard.

At Ranma's response (vocal and loud and arrogant), he fills Ranma in on the rule that Ranma must

master at least two schools before challenging Yujiro again. He explains that this is to promote a

broader range of skills and to ensure that each Everything Goes fighter truly has the ability to do

just about everything. Ranma grits his teeth and admits defeat for now. His newfound friend invites

him to a class on swordsmanship, which Ranma takes, even though he's not really all that interested

in it. There he learns that Kuno used to be a student there, with his sister in Martial Arts

Gymnastics, until their father upset the Master of Black Magic and the entire family was struck with

madness. After class, Ranma puts in a request to study Black Magic, but is rejected. He's told that

almost nobody gets accepted, so he doesn't care too much. There is a stack of letters requesting

admittance from Gosunkugi nearby that are marked for burning. Ranma is invited out to dancing that

night, and finds that he really likes it, after being dragged out to the floor by his buddy who

shows him a few quick beginner moves.

Back in Nerima, Nabiki goes over some of her notes, and discovers that she's running out of time to

get rid of Yujiro. He's already taken over many of her resources and is eroding her power base. She

tells the family that she's going on a trip with friends, and heads to the training ground. Akane

goes on a date with Hiroshi, only telling her father that she's going out to a movie with friends.

13: Fast forward a couple of months. Everyone is still having nightmares, but they've largely

learned to overcome them. Ukyo has started to date Mikado, who is a big player on the scene there,

and Ranma has failed to warn her about him. He never really managed to stop thinking of Ukyo the way

he used to, even though she's been treating him the same as everybody else. In fact, she'd been

becoming almost forward with Mikado in an effort to get Ranma to relent. At least that's what she

tells herself, in reality, she's not over Ranma either, and is doing it to try to wean herself off

of him. While on a date one night, Mikado tries to go a little too far. A lot too far, actually, and

as Ukyo escapes, she hears fighting behind her. When she finally goes to look, there is a violently

thrashed Mikado and no one else. She gets the training grounds guards and they take care of things

while she tries to figure out who could have been following them. Ranma stays hidden in the

Umisenken so she doesn't find him.

In Nerima, Akane has been having regular dates with Hiroshi when one night they are discovered by

Ryoga, who is 'happening by'. Ryoga questions her about what she's doing, but Akane doesn't remember

him. Hiroshi ends up explaining things to Ryoga and during their conversation (to which Akane isn't

listening because she's excused herself to the bathroom) Ryoga gets splashed. Hiroshi doesn't have

any time to react to it before Akane gets back and instantly recognizes her P-chan.

14: Ranma and Ukyo end up dancing together one night after their 'dates' (Ranma didn't actually have

one, he made it up) ditched them. Ranma's changed quite a bit after a few of the schools he's

studied. He's fought Yujiro a few more times since the first, but hasn't beaten him yet. As it is,

Ranma is enjoying himself far too much to really complain. Here, he's finally able to get all the

training he could ever ask for, and has been soaking up immense amounts of knowledge. Ukyo mentions

that he hasn't come to learn from her yet, and she suggests that he do so. He relents and he signs

up for her advanced class, for which there aren't any other students yet (not a popular school). So

he and Ukyo start to spend a lot of time together, and Yujiro starts to spend some time scouting

Ranma out for weaknesses. Ukyo is chosen, and Yujiro starts to worm his way to her as well.

Hiroshi finds that he has some difficulty with Ryoga/P-chan, as Ryoga starts to do the tricks he

always used to with Ranma while in P-chan form. Hiroshi doesn't rise to it as much, and thus avoids

angering Akane, but it's still close. Kasumi notes that Hiroshi has been spending a lot of time at

the dojo and suggests that he start taking classes. Akane decides to start training him.

15: Yujiro starts taking Ukyo out on dates and Ranma gets jealous. They fight again, with that being

one of the terms, and Ukyo begins to wonder just what's going on. She had been trying her hardest to

ONLY be a friend to Ranma, and now it looks like Ranma was starting to get feelings for her. Also,

Ranma is invited to study Anything Goes Commerce, and is amazed when he finds Nabiki there. She

explains to him that she's going to train him harder than she's ever trained anyone else, and Ranma

rises to the occasion, learning FAST as soon as she mentions that it's like fighting, except you do

it with money. After a particularly hard session after which Nabiki states that he was now in his

mastery challenge (gives him a starting fund), he takes Nabiki out to lunch, when she sees where

he's chosen(the restaraunt is not doing well and looks the part), she refuses until he offers to

pay. It turns out that he'd set the whole thing up beforehand, betting with the owner of the

restaraunt that he'd be able to get her in there. With the winnings, the owner says that he'll have

a hard time remaining in business. Nabiki complements Ranma on a nice move, and the two leave. Ranma

states that he'd forgotten something and runs back inside and invests the winnings along with part

of his bankroll into the restaraunt.

16: Ranma invests a lot more into local businesses and even helps out a bunch with the renovations

that most of them need. He works out some deals with tourism departments and gets quite a good ROI.

In addition, he works out some modeling work(girl side) with a Martial Arts Supply company. Costs

him practiacally nothing, but again, has great ROI. He sinks a lot of money into Ukyo's new

restaraunt which she starts in the nearby village.

Akane starts training some of the local children and really starts to get her life on track. As

she's training Hiroshi one night, Kasumi notes that she actually seems happier than she's been for a

long time and posits that perhaps it would be better if Ranma didn't come back at all. Nabiki

considers this and agrees, unable to mention that with Ranma's current location it's unlikely he

ever will. She decides then and there that Ranma's passed his test.

17:Yujiro starts to horn in on Ranma's businesses, but with Nabiki's help, it does not go well for

him. It's considered a win in Ranma's favor. Yujiro never took her class, preferring to deal with

things in a more direct fashion(Thuggery), and Ranma realizes that could be a weakness of his to take

advantage of. He spends some time finding out which schools Yujiro never studied and gets into some

really wierd stuff.

Akane and Hiroshi start becoming closer. They go on a non-date(just friends, honest) and find that

they really like it. Akane feels bad about something and Hiroshi helps her to realize that it's

because of her past with Ranma that she can't remember. She breaks down crying because she can't

remember him at all, and in a fit of emotion, they kiss. Nabiki's watching, and approves(he's going

to be a doctor, after all).

18: Ranma and the master of the school have some deep conversations about where the school is and

where Ranma would go with it. The master all but gives Ranma the school on the spot, since he can

tell that Ranma is honest when he tells him that he wants to keep it very small, private, and for

serious martial artists only. He can tell that Yujiro basically wants to become a Yakuza using the

school for recruiting. Ranma starts to fall into some more leadership type roles, and begins

teaching a lot of the students - Something Yujiro never did(took time away from his own training, he

said) Yujiro starts to get a bit less subtle as he sees that Ranma is undermining his authority.

More with Ranma and Ukyo spending time together.

19: Yujiro starts his move to take over by killing the master of the school. Pretty much the whole

chapter is one big fight scene. Ranma barely wins, mostly because while he's fighting Yujiro, Ukyo

leads the rest of the school in polishing off his thugs and Yujiro gets pissed off too much. Ranma

puts him down with one hell of a Hiryuu Shoten Ha.

Akane starts to remember Ranma. Some of the good, some of the bad. She realizes that as much as she

may have loved him, they really were NOT good for each other and any attempt at a relationship was

doomed to fail. She cries with Kasumi and Nabiki at this.

20: Ranma is unanimously determined the new master of the school. He takes it pretty well, until

he's alone, then he gets some of the best teacher he's got and asks them to help him figure out what

he's supposed to do. That's when he finds out about Mousse, since he shows up to the Sensei meeting.

Hiroshi proposes to Akane. She accepts.

Shampoo is all alone, moping. Then Mousse shows up out of nowhere to cheer her up.

Happosai gets an official-looking letter, informing him that his student, Saotome Ranma, is

withdrawing from his school in order to become the new master of the school of Everything Goes

Martial Arts. End with his thought- 'took him long enough. Here I thought I was going to have to get

serious!'


End file.
